Before Lu Bu led the army back to Chang'an, he specially explained to Xu Shu about how to subdue the barbarians in the southwest.

We should adopt the means of pulling and beating, resolutely crack down on the cruel and stubborn, and resolutely win over those who are close to the Han people.

Formulate a plan for the preferential treatment and development of the southern counties of Yizhou, refer to the successful experience of the Qiang tribes in Liangzhou, deal with them carefully, and solve their worries, and the southwestern barbarians will become a supply of high-quality soldiers like the Qiang people in the northwest.

In September, Lü Bu led a large army back to Chang'an, and Emperor Xian of Han personally went out of the city to meet Lü Bu's triumph.

This time, Lü Bu made another great achievement, bringing Yizhou under the jurisdiction of the central government, and the area ruled by the imperial court increased again, and it was one step closer to the unification of the whole country.

Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty had nothing to reward Lu Bu, so he could only issue an edict for the third time, and Jin named Lu Bu as the king of Liang, and he was the head of all kings, and he was hereditary.

The entire Liangzhou was divided into the fiefdom of the King of Liang, with 10,000 households, and the Son of Heaven honor guard could be used in and out.

This time, Lu Bu did not refrain from resigning, but with the support of hundreds of civil and military officials, he chose an auspicious day for the zodiac, ascended the throne and became king, and announced to the world.

As soon as the news of Lu Bu calling King Liang came out, the world shook, and Lu Bu's power had reached the extreme, and Emperor Han Xian was already in name only.

In fact, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty had already recognized the reality, and he had given up the struggle for power, and just wanted to live happily.

The Guogong Mansion was upgraded and expanded again into the Liang Palace, and Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty even gave a part of the palace to Lü Bu for the expansion of the palace.

In December, Cao Cao, who was far away in Yuzhou, could not bear it and established himself as the king of Wei, and set up his capital in Xiaopei, with Cao Pi as the son, Xun Yu as the left army division, and Guo Jia as the right army division.

In January 204, Sun Quan also established himself as the king of Wu in Jianye, with Jianye as the national capital, Zhang Zhao as the prime minister, and Zhou Yu as the governor of the three armies.

In February, Liu Bei, the weakest force, also couldn't wait to establish himself as the king of Chu, and took Jiangling as the capital, Chen Gong as the prime minister, Pang Tong as the military advisor, Guan Yu as the governor of the Ma army, and Wei Yan as the governor of the infantry army.

In the same month, the Ministry of Intelligence received the latest information from Cao Cao, saying that Cao Cao had obtained a grenade from the Central Army through some means.

After paying a heavy price, the researchers of the Wei State succeeded in copying and creating their own grenades.

However, because of the gunpowder formula, their grenades were less powerful than those of the Central Army.

But they received black powder from grenades in the Central Army, and it is very likely that a new gunpowder recipe will be introduced in the near future.

In view of the above information, Lü Bu decided to start mass production of smokeless gunpowder that had just passed the stability test, and he must do a good job of keeping the new gunpowder secret.

In March, the twentieth phase of the Central Military Academy in Lantian opened, and Lu Bu's eldest son, Lu Kang, passed the entrance examination and was officially admitted to the Central Military Academy in this period, and his classmates included Tai Shixiang, Zhang Hu, Jin Yue and Zhang Ren.

With the armies of Zhang Ren and Zhang Su as the backbone, plus the prisoners of the Dongzhou soldiers and the Jingzhou army, the newly formed 16th and 17th divisions of the Central Army finally passed the training of recruits and were officially established.

The commander of the 16th Division was Zhang Yan, and the commander of the 17th Division was Wen Ping, who had also made a fuss about this, and he originally wanted to take over the throne of the commander of the Special Operations Division.

Zhang Yan's original position as the commander of the Xianbei servant army was taken over by Yang Ren.

On the grassland now, it is completely the world of the Han Dynasty.

The Han people have truly become the masters of the grassland, and the Xianbei servant army has expanded to three brigades.

These servants slaughtered the Xianbei people more ruthlessly than anyone else.

The central Xianbei has been completely beaten away, and they have all run to the eastern part of the grassland, and they have become mixed with the eastern Xianbei.

The original Golden Family and the Company have completely become vassals of the Han people, loyal servants and qualified thugs!

The three servant armies of the Han people are the claws and hounds of the Han people who dominate the grassland, and the most fertile pastures in the middle of the grassland have been completely controlled by the Han nomadic group.

It is either the pasture of the Han settlement, or the family territory of the three major servant armies.

Moreover, the post roads built on the grasslands have been connected to all the settlements at the battalion level, that is, the size of 500 settlements.

Many Han people born on the grassland, or mixed race children of Han people and various ethnic groups in the grassland, have grown up, and the Central Army has a steady stream of high-quality cavalry soldiers.

Like all steppe nomads, they grew up on horseback, skilled in riding and archery, and fierce and fierce in the steppe people.

Both the Western Regions Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate already had division-level garrisons directly under them, mainly cavalry, and it was precisely the recruitment of many such Han people.

With the continuous extension of the Silk Road, as well as the continuous expansion and activity of import and export trade, the number and scale of caravans are also increasing.

This makes caravan escorts more and more sought-after, after all, the central government and the governor's palace can only provide some regional escort forces.

Large caravans still generally need to hire some guards by themselves, and veterans of the Central Army with actual combat experience and strict training have become sought-after.

Mercenaries also became a new profession along the Silk Roads, with many willing to take risks for high commissions.

The tentacles of the Great Han also extended further with them, and even had diplomatic contacts with the Anxi Empire, which dominated the West Asian region.

Of course, because of the long distance and unfamiliarity with each other, both sides are in the stage of testing each other.

In May, Lü Bu took Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Lu Su and other personnel of the General Staff to Jiaozhou Bay on the warship of the Central Naval Division to participate in the founding ceremony of the Central Navy.

The Jiaozhou Bay Shipyard has already succeeded in building a large number of new galleons, which are very close in style to the Spanish galleons of later generations, after all, it is the sketch drawn by Lu Bu.

The mysterious weapons that Lu Bu had been thinking about were said to have been manufactured and installed on the galleon.

Lu Bu sat on the huge boat, and he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart.

Zhuge Liang and the others all gathered in his cabin early in the morning, who made his cabin the largest.

Everyone was talking about the Central Navy that was about to be established, and Lu Bu told them, don't look at the difference between the navy and the navy, but the nature is completely different.

The ships that sail in rivers and lakes have not experienced any wind and waves, and their original design is to pursue stability, and they cannot go to sea at all.

Moreover, the previous ships did not have keels, nor did they have so many watertight compartments, and in the event of strong winds and waves, there was a danger of falling apart and capsizing.

Therefore, even the powerful Soochow naval army only dared to operate in the waters close to the coast, and when encountering strong winds and waves, they had to hide back in the harbor.

However, because the navy's ships have to carry out ocean voyages and travel thousands of miles at one time, they must be able to withstand the test of strong winds and waves, and they must also have advanced navigation technology and equipment.

Only an army that can survive in the ocean is qualified to be called a navy, Lu Bu said that everyone was fascinated by the navy.

(End of chapter)