"The third brother is calm and don't be impatient. Zhang Lu has repeatedly invaded Yizhou, presumably the strength is not weak, although we have 100,000 troops, but most of them are new soldiers, and we need to be cautious. Liu Bei motioned for Zhang Fei to sit down.

"Brother, you're just too cautious." Zhang Fei was slightly dissatisfied.

"Mr. Kong Ming."

"The minister is here."

Zhuge Liang took the feather fan and got up.

Liu Bei asked, "In your opinion, what should I do?" ”

Zhuge Liang replied: "The lord's decision is very correct, and Xiaozhi and Ziqiao are also very accurate and clear. Although Yizhou is fertile for thousands of miles and rich in resources, the roads are steep and difficult for the army to walk. If we don't capture Hanzhong, every time we go out of Sichuan, we have to go through thousands of miles of Shu Road, a long journey, when can we get the Central Plains? ”

Speaking of this, Fa Zheng continued: "Even if you capture Hanzhong, you will have to cross Qishan or cross the Qinling Mountains to reach Guannei, Xiliang, and Jingzhou. It's also a long road. ”

"That's all for later, the most important thing for us now is to capture Hanzhong." Zhang Songdao.

"Hmm."

All the generals and civil servants felt the same way.

Liu Bei immediately decided to prepare grain and grass, and sent troops ten days later to attack Zhang Lu.

....................

Sima Yi returned to the dynasty in victory, and Cao Cao was overjoyed.

Although the battle of Jingnan had an element of luck, Sima Yi drove Zhuge Liang away without losing troops, which can be regarded as a great achievement. It's hard to be a strategist or general.

It can also be seen from this that Sima Yi's talent is absolutely first-class.

"Prime Minister, Sima Yi is a general, he can lead the army to fight, and he can compete with Zhuge Liang. But... The greater the ability, the greater the ambition, and the prime minister must be guarded against. In the Prime Minister's Mansion, Jia Xu said.

"That's where I'm worried." Cao Cao said: "I'm thinking now, what should I reward him? Do you have any suggestions? ”

"This kind of thing, the prime minister must have a clear decision."

"You're welcome, just say it." Cao Cao really didn't have an idea.

The reward was heavy, he was not at ease, the reward was light, and he couldn't show the importance of Sima Yi, which made the soldiers of the Southern Expedition feel cold.

Jia Xu smiled and said, "Prime Minister, you can keep Sima Yi by your side, promote him to a counselor, and give advice to the Prime Minister." He can also be rewarded with a large amount of gold and silver, and a mansion, which is enough to show the importance that the prime minister attaches to him. And General Xu Huang, who went to Jingnan with Sima Yi, also made great contributions, and could be promoted to the governor of Jingzhou and in charge of Jingzhou's military affairs. Transfer General Zhang Liao back to Yanzhou to listen to the tune. ”

"That's very good."

Cao Cao immediately agreed.

Send someone to spread the decree of the Son of Heaven.

(Note: Every time Cao Cao rewarded a general, he had to do it in the name of the Son of Heaven.) Because he is the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, he wants to establish the majesty of the Son of Heaven. In his opinion, he is the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei's straw sandals, Yuan Xi, Sun Quan and others are all chaotic troops. ）

When Sima Yi received the reward, he pretended to be very happy, but in fact he was not shocked.

Because he knew very well that Cao Cao did not trust him.

If this is done to any one person, it may be chilling, resentful, or even treacherous. But Sima Yi won't, his family is in Luoyang, which is the rear of Cao Cao's forces and the former capital of the Han Dynasty, it is impossible for him to betray Cao Cao because he is not reused, and disgrace the Sima family. Of course, this reason is secondary, mainly because he thinks that Cao Cao can achieve great things, he is the authentic emperor of the Han Dynasty, and he can build an immortal reputation with Cao Cao. As for these grievances, bear with them.

..............

Early September.

Students from all over the world arrived in Yecheng to participate in the recruitment meeting held by the Ministry of Officials.

The so-called recruitment meeting is the imperial examination.

Yuan Xi overthrew the Han Dynasty's system of promoting filial piety and honesty and established the imperial examination. However, in order to control the situation and reduce the impact, the imperial examination is not called the imperial examination, but the recruitment of talents. Because there are recruits in every prince, it is easier for everyone to accept.

The recruitment meeting was held in early September.

The chief examiner is Fu Zhu, and the deputy examiners Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Judge, Cui Yan, and Chen Lin.

"The lord has explained that the questions of the exam cannot just be the test articles. Because these students, once they are hired, they will be sent to various places as officials. If they only write articles, but do not govern the localities and educate the people, will they not harm the people? Therefore, we have to test three times, the first one is to test the article, the second is to test the character, and the third is to test the ability of actual combat. Frustrated and eloquent.

"Mr. Fu, this is a test of character... How to take the test? Cui Yan asked.

Frustrated with a smile: "It's very simple, let's send someone.... For example, when a candidate walks down the street and sees a person in front of him who has dropped his money bag, what will he do? Is it hiding yourself? Or return the money bag to the owner? Another example is selling exam questions at a low price, and anyone who pays for them will not be hired. Another example is that people pretend to be disaster victims and ask for food, and inadvertently appear in front of the candidates to see the candidates' reactions. If they feel disgusted, they must not be hired. Of course, in addition to these, loyalty and filial piety are also tested, and the neighbors of their hometown are interviewed and how they are evaluated. Whatever has a bad deed will be used with caution. ”

The secretary of the military department said: "According to this examination, the selected students are of course very good. But... As far as I know, there are as many as four or five thousand people who come to take the exam, and I am afraid that I will not be able to complete the exam in a year or two with such a cumbersome exam, right? ”

"Why does it take that long?"

He muttered and replied, "What I just said will be examined in the second stage." The first stage is to test the article. You think, although there are four or five thousand people who come to take the exam, how many of them can be chosen? It won't be more than five hundred, right? Maybe not even 300 people. If I remove from these people, those who have bad reviews and are not filial piety, there will not be much left. I will take them to meet a group of displaced people, see their reactions, and then weed out a group, do you think there are still many people? ”

Chen Lin said: "Mr. Fu, you just said that you still want to fight? ”

Fu Zhi nodded, "That's right. After the first and second stages, there is also the third stage of actual combat. At this stage, let them go to the counties of Wei County to make a county order for a month, and then decide to hire them according to their performance and grades. This is also the meaning of the lord. ”

"Hehe..."

The judge smirked twice.

"Jeongnam, what are you laughing at? Are you dissatisfied with this scientific expedition? Tian Feng asked.

"No, I'm satisfied. Didn't you see me laughing happily? The judge said this, but he did have some opinions in his heart. Of course, as the secretary of the Ministry of War, he doesn't have much right to speak, so he just laughs twice.

"If you have an opinion, just say it." Frustrated.

"Then I'll just say it?"

"Say it."

"Ahem..." The judge said: "The exam is too cumbersome, and it takes several months to go through three sessions. Have you ever considered that some poor students, even when they go to Yecheng, they have to go bankrupt, how can they have the money to spend a few months in Yecheng? Isn't this tantamount to rejecting all poor students to join? Of course, that's not the point. The point is that it's too difficult, I'm worried ... Not many people can pass the test. Let's be busy, don't even be able to get together dozens of people by then. ”