Yuan Shu sent troops, Tao Qian couldn't let Liu Bei go, and Liu Bei also took the opportunity to ask Tao Qian for soldiers and food, expand his strength, and gain a firm foothold in Xuzhou.

Liu Bei has generals and Yuan Shu has soldiers, and the two families are on a par, but the most striking thing in the Central Plains is the competition between Cao Cao and Lu Bu in Yanzhou. That is, on the second day after Lü Bu led his troops into Yanzhou, the proclamation of the imperial court Yu Lü Bu to draw a clear line was also widely spread all over the world.

Cao Cao received news on the way back to Yanzhou with his army, but he didn't bother to pay attention to the imperial court now. Cao Cao's rebellion in Yanzhou made Cao Cao shocked and angry, and he couldn't help but wonder why so many people betrayed him. Just killed Bian Rang himself? Or did he kill more than 300 members of Bian Rang's family? I'm afraid not.

As soon as the imperial court's recruitment order came out, Cao Cao also followed suit and issued a meritocracy order. The big families in Yanzhou have nothing to do with the imperial court, but they may not be so polite to Cao Cao. Cao Cao's meritocracy is only his talent, not his morality, regardless of his background, meritocracy.

This is shaking the fundamental interests of the family. The biggest reliance of the family is neither the possession of a large amount of land nor the possession of a large number of domestic slaves, but the control of the export of talents. Through the export of talents, the family can control the government and even the imperial court, so as to safeguard the interests of the family.

But Cao Cao's meritocracy gave many talents who had not been recruited by the family the opportunity to enter the government to hold important positions. The position in this official mansion is a radish and a pit, and if someone occupies it, others will not have a chance. This virtually weakened the influence of the family on the government.

Lü Bu led his troops into Yanzhou and was able to obtain most of Yanzhou in a very short period of time, also because in the eyes of most people, Lü Bu was just a brave and unscrupulous horseman, easier to control than Cao Cao. However, in order to leave a way out for the family, most of the families chose neutrality before Cao Cao and Lu Bu split the victory. There are acts of secretly giving convenience to Lu Bu, but only a few companies openly support Lu Bu, such as Zhang Miao and Guo Xun.

Cao Cao's current situation is very dangerous, he has a deep understanding of Lu Bu's bravery, and Cao Cao, the fierce iron cavalry under his command, has long heard of it, but Cao Cao is not afraid of Lu Bu because of this. Although Lu Bu is brave, he has courage but no strategy, and he has Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and other resourceful people on his side to help, and it is not impossible to win against Lu Bu.

The two armies fought viciously repeatedly, and each other won and lost, but on the whole, Cao Cao lost more and won less. Lu Bu relied on the cavalry under his command to have three treasures in the horse, and defeated Cao's army more than once in field battles. What annoyed Lu Bu was that Cao Cao was like an unbeatable Xiaoqiang, and every time he was defeated, he could regroup his team and confront him again.

Since leaving Guanzhong, Lu Bu has made up his mind to make a name for himself. Chen Gong and Zhang Miao kept their promises and contributed a lot to his entry into Yanzhou, which also made Lu Bu satisfied. But with Cao Cao's return, things began to go badly. First of all, the county guards in various places no longer supported themselves as they did at the beginning, and although they still provided food and grass, they always found excuses to delay. The second is that Juancheng, Fanxian, and Dong'e cannot be recovered, which also makes Lu Bu unable to devote all his energy to dealing with Cao Cao. What made Lu Bu even more dissatisfied was that Chen Gong and Zhang Miao were pointing fingers at him more and more. Many times, Lu Bu felt that he was not the lord of the two of them, but their subordinates.

……

At a time when the Central Plains was full of wars, Chang'an ushered in a big day. The great Confucian Zheng Xuan accepted the appointment of the imperial court as a doctor of Taixue, and today is the day when Taixue is reopened.

Liu Xie is the son of heaven of the Han Dynasty, so it is natural to be present to congratulate at this time, and except for Liu Xie, almost all the scholars in Chang'an came to the scene. As the door of Taixue slowly opened, the students who had been waiting for a long time entered Taixue. Today is the day of the reopening of Taixue, and it is also the day of the big exam for students to enter Taixue.

If you want to enter Taixue, first of all, you must pass your own talents, and as for other aspects, you can consider them later. Regardless of your background, as long as you have just passed the test, you can get the financial support of the imperial court to study with peace of mind, and the quota of the first batch of Taixue students, Liu Cheng is 300 people.

In order to become one of the 300 places, the thousands of students who have gathered in Chang'an these days are afraid that they will compete for a "head and blood". It's not that Liu Xie doesn't want to increase the number of places, but his financial resources are limited, and the teachers are insufficient. Fortunately, these 300 people don't have to worry about their talents, if it is a blank piece of paper, they can't teach them with Zheng Xuan and Kong Rong.

However, this is not a problem that Liu Xie needs to care about, Taixue is different from the past, according to Liu Xie's opinion, as long as you have learned enough, you can enter Taixue, but if you want to graduate from Taixue and get an official from the imperial court, it is not an easy thing.

Seeing those students who were taking the exam enter Taixue, Liu Xie said hello to Zheng Xuan and Kong Rong who were invigilators and prepared to leave. I didn't want to go to the door, but I saw someone stopped by the guards guarding the door.

"This big brother, please be accommodating and let me in." The scholar who was stopped begged the soldiers who blocked the way.

"No, it's past the hour, you can come back next time."

The scholar was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, and he didn't dare to break in, but he was unwilling to let him go back, and he was so anxious that he almost knelt down for the soldiers, when he heard someone say: "Hey~ Let him in, anyway, there is still a little time before the official start of the exam." ”

The soldiers who blocked the road saw that it was the Son of Heaven who spoke, and hurriedly wanted to salute, but fortunately, Liu Xie glared at him in time, so that the soldiers did not reveal their identities.

Since the Son of Heaven had spoken, the soldiers naturally didn't dare to stop him anymore, and retreated to the side. Seeing this, the scholar hurriedly said to Liu Xie: "Thank you, thank you." ”

"Don't thank you, it's easy to send you in, you may not be able to pass the exam and it depends on your own ability. It's not early, go in quickly, so as not to miss the hour, if you ask Master Zheng to drive you out, my words will not be good. ”

"Thank you for reminding me, dare to ask Childe's name and surname?"

"Huh...... When you become a student, you will naturally know who I am, so go ahead. ”

Seeing that Liu Xie refused to speak, and the exam was about to start, the scholar saluted Liu Xie again, "Bu Qi thank Gongzi for his kind words, I believe that I will be able to see Gongzi again soon." ”

Liu Xie nodded and watched Bu Qi enter the examination room.

"Lord, where are we going now?"

"Ziyi, you haven't had a good visit since you came to Chang'an, have you? I'll go shopping with you. Liu Xie smiled and said to Tai Shi Ci, who was asking.

Tai Shi Ci was able to come to Chang'an, thanks to Kong Rong. At first, when Tai Shici invited Liu Bei from the plains to relieve the siege of Beihai, he still had a good impression of Liu Bei, and felt that the rumors were true, and this Liu Bei was really a benevolent person. But as Liu Bei Lai did not leave Beihai, and made the means to melt Tai Shou Kong into the air, Tai Shi Ci had no good impression of Liu Bei.

Others are okay, but Kong Rong is kind to Tai Shici, Tai Shici's mother was sick and had no money for treatment, and it was Kong Rong who helped. And Tai Shici is a filial son, and he is naturally grateful to Kong Rong. That's why he took the risk to fight his way out of the siege and call for help.

But the rescuers were invited, and the siege of Beihai was resolved, but Kong Rong's situation seemed to be worse than before, which also made Tai Shici feel a little guilty about Kong Rong, and always felt that he had lured the wolf into the house to recruit Liu Bei. In order to protect Kong Rong's safety, Tai Shici refused the invitation of his fellow villager Liu Xuan and stayed in Beihai to protect Kong Rong's safety.

After Dong Cheng's plan to coerce the Son of Heaven to return to the east failed, Liu Xie sent Dong Cheng and several of Dong Cheng's friends in the court to Qingzhou, and at the same time ordered Kong Rong to return to Chang'an to preside over Taixue. After all, Zheng Xuan is old, and it is okay to occasionally give lectures to the students, but it is more appropriate to leave the daily affairs of Taixue to Kong Rong.

If he hadn't been the Taishou of Beihai, Kong Rong might have refused the imperial court's edict. When he was not blocked in Beihai City by Guan Hai with a yellow scarf, Kong Rong had always been very conceited, thinking that he could govern the army when he got off the horse and manage the people when he got off the horse. But after returning to the city in embarrassment after being beaten by the yellow scarf, Kong Rong finally recognized the reality and understood that he was not the material to lead the troops to fight. Qingzhou has been plagued by wars, and as an official here, sooner or later he will either die at the hands of thieves or be assassinated by the princes of which way.

Rather than die an unclear death, it is safer to teach and educate people. And in Kong Rong's mind, the four words of Han orthodoxy are still very attractive. However, Kong Rong is not busy on the road, and now the world is not very good, even if he follows Zheng Xuan on the road together, he may not necessarily be safe on the road. For the sake of safety, Kong Rong thought of Tai Shici. This is a fierce general who can kill in and out of the Yellow Turban, if he is protected all the way, it will be much safer to go to Chang'an.

At first, Tai Shici didn't plan to go to Chang'an, after all, the distance was far away, and the old mother at home also needed to be taken care of. Unexpectedly, Kong Rong did even better, and personally visited Tai Shici's old mother Xu. After persuading the Xu family to go to Chang'an together, Tai Shici had no reason to refuse.

When he arrived in Chang'an, Liu Xie knew that the strong man who escorted Zheng Xuan and others all the way to Chang'an was Donglai Tai Shici, so it was even more impossible to let him go. Liu Xie knows that Tai Shi Ci is filial piety, and the meaning of this sentence is that as long as Liu Xie can get Tai Shi Ci's old mother, then he can get Tai Shi Ci.

And what the elderly hope for most is naturally to see their children get ahead. Liu Xiegui is the Son of Heaven and personally came to the door to ask Xu's help, and Xu naturally agreed, and Tai Shici became the shooting captain among the five new captains in the imperial court.

After Lü Bu led his troops to leave Guanzhong, Liu Xie took the opportunity to make an adjustment to the imperial court's official army, abolishing the eight lieutenants established in order to obtain a certain amount of military power, and setting up five battalions of tun cavalry, infantry, Changshui, Yue cavalry, and archery. However, these five battalions are all newly built, and there are not many veterans left in the battalion, so there is no need to expect them to be of great use for the time being.

As for the former Eighth Colonel and the garrisons in various places who still have the status of county soldiers, they have also been corrected this time. At the beginning, in order not to arouse Lu Bu's suspicion, four of the eight schools were given to Lu Bu, but as Lu Bu led his troops to leave, the people of these four schools were also taken away. The four schools that remained in Guanzhong also took this opportunity to change their names.

The original Shang military camp was renamed to relieve trouble, led by Xu Huang, the general of Pingxi, and stationed in Yuzhong; The original military camp was renamed Han'an, led by Hao Zhao, the general of Pingnan, and stationed in Lintao; The original left battalion of the auxiliary army was renamed Beiwei, which was led by Huang Zhong, the general of Annan, and was stationed in Hanzhong; The original military camp was renamed Youyi, led by Zhao Yun, the general of Anbei, and stationed in Suyi. In addition to the above four armies, there are three other troops available to the imperial court, namely the Tiger Ben Army led by Pingdong General Dian Wei, the Tiger Guard Army led by Pingbei General Pang De, and the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry led by Anxi General Zhang Liao. As for Gao Shun, the general of Annam, he became the chief instructor of the new military camp of the imperial court.

In Liu Xie's plan, the upper limit of each of the seven roads is 10,000, but the number is still 5,000 at present, after all, Xiliang Han Sui and Ma Teng are still a threat. Excessive expansion of the number of people will not be able to afford the financial burden of the imperial court, and the addition of a large number of new soldiers will lead to a decline in the combat effectiveness of the army.

The replenishment of men and horses will increase year by year, and the selection of personnel will be selected from the soldiers of various counties. After those qualified county soldiers arrived in Chang'an, they had to receive training from Gao Shun for as little as three months and as much as half a year before they were assigned to various armies. As early as when appointing Xun Yu as Situ, Liu Xie said that how to deal with internal affairs is a matter for hundreds of officials in the DPRK, but no one wants to get involved in military power, and it can only be in the hands of the Son of Heaven in the future. Even if it is the command of the county soldiers in various places, it is in the hands of the Son of Heaven, and whoever dares to stretch out his hand will chop his hand.

Xun Yu didn't know why Liu Xie was so insistent, it can be seen that Liu Xie was so serious for the first time, so he agreed to Liu Xie's request. After taking office, he didn't care about the military, but only focused on restoring the people's livelihood in Guanzhong. With the efforts of Xun Yu, Sun Qian, Guan Ning and others, the livelihood of several counties in Guanzhong, which is not in contact with external forces, has recovered well, which has strengthened the people's morale in Guanzhong.

Compared to other places, Guanzhong is peaceful. Although the imperial court was conscripting soldiers, it was based on the principle of their own volition, and they did not carry out forced conscription. In order to restore the people's strength, the imperial court adopted a policy of tax reduction and exemption for the people. This series of actions undoubtedly made many people who suffered from the war go to Guanzhong with their families, and the people in the Nanyang area were the largest.

Nanyang was originally the emperor's hometown, and it was because of the support of the Nanyang family that Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was able to defeat the usurper Wang Mang and revitalize the Han family. But where there are more families, the more miserable the people's lives become. There are not many children of the family who bully the people, but the family slaves raised by the family have many acts of bullying the people. The people couldn't afford to provoke them, so they could only swallow their anger.

During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Nanyang was a hard-hit area, although the main force of the Yellow Turban was later eliminated by the imperial court, there were still many small groups of Yellow Turbans hiding in the deep mountains and old forests to persist in the struggle. The oppression of the family, the bullying of the bandits, and the fact that Yuan Shu is a son who does not know the suffering of the people and does not know how to sympathize with the people, the people living in Nanyang naturally have to choose to leave their hometown if they want to live.

For these people who came to defect, Liu Xie naturally welcomed them. In the long run, if you want to make the northwest stable for a long time, you must move in a large number of Han people to assimilate the local Qiang people. It is a stupid way to solve national contradictions with a single knife and gun, and when is it a head? Assimilation is the best policy. Of course, assimilation cannot be relied on alone by subtlety, and the necessary force guarantee is also needed, otherwise the Han people who moved to the northwest will only become "two-legged sheep".

The current court is very harmonious, the Son of Heaven holds the military power, and the government of the dynasty is entrusted to the Chinese officials. Wenwu well water does not violate the river water, each has a share, and the place that needs assistance only needs to be reported to obtain a permit, then it must be implemented. The same is true in various places, where the soldiers of each county are directly under the orders of the Son of Heaven. The county guards are only in charge of the people's livelihood, and if they need the assistance of the county soldiers, they can only negotiate with the commander who is responsible for training the county soldiers, but they do not have the right to give orders, but the monthly salaries of the county soldiers in various places are allocated by the county guards.

The biggest difference between the county soldiers and the officers and soldiers is probably that the county soldiers have to engage in production in addition to training on weekdays, while the officers and soldiers only need to concentrate on training and receive a monthly salary, and the salary is also twice that of the county soldiers. This is still non-wartime, and if it is wartime salary, it will be doubled. It can be said that as long as you work as an officer and soldier for a few years, you can buy a few acres of thin fields to survive with the accumulated salary.

In addition, there is another advantage of being an officer and soldier, that is, the officers and soldiers who have been approved will be arranged by the imperial court after removing their armor, and they can also do a local catch at the very least. As for those soldiers who were disabled by the war, the imperial court would not give them a severance pay and then leave them alone. Those who are literate and hyphenation will be arranged to be a small official like the village Zheng, and if they are illiterate, they will also send someone to teach a skill, in short, they can also have a skill if they are disabled, and they will not worry about their livelihood in the future.

Liu Xie's insistence on implementing the army guarantee system ensured that the officers and soldiers could be continuously replenished, and those literate and hyphenated soldiers were arranged to be village leaders in various places, and their desire to defend the Han Dynasty was stronger than others, which virtually increased the imperial court's control over the localities. As long as this system can be implemented reliably, even if the family joins forces against Liu Xie in the future, Liu Xie is not afraid to turn against the other party.

When it doesn't make sense, the knife is the best choice. If the mouth can't talk to you, find a way to shut you up! Liu Xie had prepared for the worst. Of course, at present, Liu Xie will not choose to turn his face with the family, he is still too weak, and the strength of the family is very strong, at this time, turning his face will only put himself in a disadvantageous situation.

At this time, all the princes in the world, the Yuan brothers are the embodiment of the strength of the family, if it is not for the support of the family, with the annoying character of Yuan Highway, how many people are willing to follow him?

And Liu Xie is not the only one who wants to deal with the family, among which Cao Cao is the representative. has just experienced the betrayal of the family, and Cao Cao can be said to hate the family to the core. But also with Cao Cao's mind, he also knows that he wants to regain control of Yanzhou when he is not going to turn his face with the family, and he Cao Cao still needs the support of the family.

After entering a stalemate with Lü Bu, Cao Cao adopted Xi Zhicai's suggestion and divided his troops to regain the lost territory. Those families were originally wall grass, and after seeing that Lu Bu could not quickly defeat Cao Cao, the nature of the wall grass attacked, and he took refuge in Cao Cao. Cao Cao's Yanzhou was lost quickly, and the recovery was also fast, and only Juancheng, Fanxian, and Dong'e were still under Cao Cao in Yanzhou, but not long after Cao Cao divided his troops, the entire Yanzhou became a north-south confrontation, and Cao Cao and Lu Bu also launched a new round of confrontation near Juye.