Before officially starting a war with Cao Cao, Liu He did two things in addition to making a big noise and dividing and winning over the surrounding forces.

The first was a unique competition held in Luoyang Taixue. On one side of the competition were 200 teachers and students from Yenching University, and on the other hand, nearly 10,000 scribes and scholars from various states in the world, including Luoyang Taixue, and the final result was that the teachers and students of Yenching University crushed the world's scholars with overwhelming results, thus establishing Xinxue's position as the leader of the Han Dynasty in one fell swoop.

Because it is a major competition related to reputation and personal career, the time for convening and preparation alone is as long as a year, and the imperial court has built a large number of buildings and halls in the suburbs of Luoyang for this epoch-making competition, so as to ensure that the world's scholars live, study and exchange, visit, and participate in the competition.

In order to ensure the fairness and impartiality of the competition, the two sides of the competition asked each other, and each competition was presided over by a member of the imperial court in person, and a newly established "examination committee" was responsible for judging the results of the competition.

Although the number of teachers and students selected by Yenching University to participate in the competition was small, the talents they displayed in each competition left an unforgettable impression on the people of Luoyang, the officials of the imperial court, and even their opponents in the competition.

In the traditional field of scholars, teachers and students from the School of History and the School of Economics of Yenching University explained the way of Confucius and Mencius with new ideas, and mercilessly criticized the ideas of Huang Laozhi, the Five Elements, and metaphysics.

In the fields of poetry, painting, music, calligraphy, etc., the teachers and students of the School of Liberal Arts of Yenching University have not only come up with five-character quatrains, seven-character rhythms, long and short sentences, but also many new painting techniques and musical instrument playing methods, as well as four kinds of regular script, two kinds of line script, and two kinds of cursive script......

As for non-traditional fields such as astronomy, geography, arithmetic, agriculture, medicine, and machinery, the teachers and students of Yenching University are even more difficult to match. Most of the elites from all walks of life who were in the early days were recruited by Liu He to the north, and now let these scholars who only know how to sit and talk about the Tao discuss the laws of astrological movement, agricultural yield increase technology, and medical and surgical procedures with the teachers and students of Yenching University, it is like a competition between college students and kindergarten children, and there is no comparison at all.

If the rich knowledge displayed by the teachers and students of Yenching University is not shocking enough, then all of them can fencing, archery, juju, horseback riding, and driving, and their bodies are as strong as warriors in the army, but they are fiercely shocked and envious by the weak soldiers of the world.

What's the matter, my brother not only has a splendid talent. There is also a good body that can be on the battlefield and enter the boudoir! These skinny guys, whether they move their mouths or hands, are not our opponents of Yenching University!

Liu He's purpose in agitating this big competition is to promote the education model of Yenching University to the whole country, and at the same time, it is also to attract scholars from all over the world to come to Luoyang, so as to select a group of future official seeds for the country. Although the new school can completely defeat the old way of education, Liu He also knows that there are many talents in the Han Dynasty, and there are some well-educated people with traditional education in various places. They are just like Guan Ning and Bing Yuan and others at the beginning, as long as they are slightly cultivated in the environment of the new school for a few years, they will immediately bloom with dazzling brilliance.

The hard work paid off, and Liu He's appeals and agitations in the newspapers had an effect. Among the scholars of various states, there are many long-term people, who have seen the general trend of Liu He's rectification of military affairs in various states and the promotion of the comprehensive reform of the Han Dynasty, and know that this is the critical moment for Liu He to use a large number of new people. Therefore, I came to Luoyang with friends, and I secretly wanted to make a name for myself in Luoyang and enter Liu He's field of vision.

Because the road from Jingzhou to Luoyang is quite smooth. Although Liu Bei, who was entrenched in the Nanyang area, refused the imperial court's recruitment, he did not dare to blatantly prevent the Jingzhou scholars from going to Luoyang to compete. Although Liu Bei knew that there must be talents who could be of great use among these scholars, he also understood that it was impossible for people to look down on his leaky and leaky ship, so he could only watch Sima Hui, Pang Degong and Huang Chengyan and other Jingzhou celebrities pass through Nanyang with their proud sons and go to Luoyang with a smile.

However, it is said that among the "Jingzhou delegation" led by Sima Hui, Pang Degong and Huang Chengyan, it is a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger, and its overall strength is second only to the "Youzhou delegation" led by Zheng Xuan's son. This time, there were not only celebrities Pei Qian, Wang Cang, Sima Zhi and others who followed Mr. Shuijing Sima Hui to Luoyang, but also Zhuge Kongming, Cui Zhouping, Shi Guangyuan and Meng Gongwei, four rising stars, and Pang Tong, Wang Su, Yin Mo, Li Shu, Pan Jun and other Jingzhou talents.

When Liu He heard that Pang Tong and Zhuge and others had come to Luoyang, the joy in his heart was indescribable, and he specially instructed several of his subordinates, asking them to do their best to keep this group of young talents from Jingzhou in Luoyang for the use of the imperial court.

It is said that if the cone is in the bag, it will be revealed, and the dragon and phoenix among people like Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, although they have not received the systematic training of Yenching University, they still show admirable ability in governance and planning that they are proficient in. After the end of the competition, Zhuge Liang was directly promoted into the Taifu Mansion, and he overstepped the level to serve as a member of the mansion, becoming an important staff member around Liu Yu. Pang Tong was elected by Liu He into the Generalissimo's Mansion and became a member of Liu He's think tank.

In another time and space, Zhuge Kongming needed Liu Bei to visit the thatched cottage before he could invite him out of the mountain, because Liu Bei had no foundation at that time, and Zhuge Liang was looking for a platform where he could give full play to his talents.

In this time and space, the prestige of the central court has far exceeded the era of Emperor Ling, and at the same time, it has also ended the decline since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Many so-called "hermits" are just pretending to be forced to raise their own value, and if they pretend to be too forced, they will be cocooned and bound themselves. With Liu He here, naturally people with lofty ideals in the world will not become hard people who pretend to be too forced.

Liu He knew that Zhuge Zhicai was in governing internal affairs, so he sent him to the Taifu Mansion, and Pang Tong's talent was in military planning, so he took Pang Tong by his side. In Liu He's mind, in the next twenty years, Zhuge will be the candidate for the minister of the Han Cabinet, and Pang Tong will be the candidate for the core members of the Command Office.

In addition to boldly using a group of young talents from all over the world who came to Luoyang, Liu He also recruited and enabled two great powers related to Cao Cao.

The first powerful name is Zhong Xuan, who is also from Yingchuan, and has been secretly involved with Cao Cao in the past. Zhong Miao originally accompanied Emperor Liu Xie to flee from Chang'an to Anyi, but when he crossed the Yellow River, Liu Xie and the Sima family returned to Luoyang by boat, leaving many ministers of the imperial court in Anyi. Liu He asked his good father-in-law Lu Bu to carry the black cauldron for himself, and kept some ministers in the court in Anyi, and later returned to Chang'an, and Zhong Xuan was one of them.

After Liu He had left Zhong Xuan dry for five years, when he was about to use force against Cao Cao, he sent Chen Qun to Chang'an to persuade Zhong Xiang to come to Luoyang as an official. Chen Qun told sù Zhong Xuan: "If Yuan Chang can come to Luoyang, in the future, if Cao Gong is defeated, there will be someone who will call for him to run for him, so as not to suffer the disaster of extermination." Zhong Xuan was lonely and uncomfortable in Chang'an, and he could only practice Zhong's regular script all day long, and now Liu He opened a door to him to continue to engage in politics as an official, coupled with Chen Qun's persuasion, so without too much hesitation, he came to Luoyang with Chen Qun.

Liu He has always been a generous person, as long as others give face, he is willing to give others official hats. No, not long after Zhong Xiang came to Luoyang, the imperial court granted Zhong Xiang the position of Dasi Nongcheng, second only to Jiuqing, mainly to assist Dasi Nong in taking charge of the national warehouse and persuading the nongsang, which is a very powerful position. Without Liu He's recommendation, Zhong Miao would have to stay up for many years if he wanted to get this position.

The second power enabled by Liu He is called Xun Yu. That's right, it is the Wang Zuozhicai who once assisted Cao Cao, and now the brother of Xuzhou Mu Xun Chen.

Liu He and Xun Yu already had a personal relationship, especially when Xun Yu went to the north to observe, Liu He not only gave Xun Yu a lot of courtesy and convenience, but also expressed respect for him. After Xun Yu returned to Yanzhou from the north, he tried his best to build yì Cao Cao to learn from Youzhou in an all-round way, and seize the time to implement the new policy, but because of Cao Cao's suspicion and was given a cold reception, he was disheartened and asked Cao Cao to resign, and then returned to his hometown, and since then he has closed his door and temporarily withdrawn from the political arena of the Han Dynasty.

However, Xun Yu is young after all, and now he is only in his forties, his brother Xun Chen served as the pastor of Xuzhou, and his nephew Xun Yu is in a high position in Yanzhou, and the influence on him must be there.

The reason why Liu He didn't use Xun Yu as soon as he returned to his hometown was to save some face for Xun Yu and Cao Cao, he couldn't let Xun Yu have a bad reputation on his back, and he couldn't stretch out his hand to slap Cao Heizi in the face, so he temporarily let Xun Yu live at home until he returned to Luoyang this time, ready to do a big job.

Liu He wrote to Xun Yu and said to him: "I heard that Mr. Wenruo has always been committed to supporting the Han family, and now the signs of the prosperity of the Han Dynasty have appeared, I don't know why Mr. is still nostalgic in his hometown, but he doesn't come to Luoyang to show his ambition and talent?" The dispute between me and Cao Mengde is not a dispute of righteousness, nor a dispute between kings and tyrants, but a dispute between different political concepts and concepts. ”

Xun Yu read Liu He's letter, and it didn't take long for him to leave his hometown and go to Luoyang to vote for Liu He. Liu He took into account Xun Yu's reputation, and did not let him take the position of the generalissimo's governor, but recommended Xun Yu to take the position of Shang Shucheng, that is, Shang Shuling's deputy. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shang Shuling is the chief official in charge of Shang Shutai, and its power is sometimes even above the three dukes, and now the actual person in charge of the court is Taifu Liu Yu, so there is no Shang Shu Ling all year round, so that Xun Yu is Shang Shucheng, which is definitely a great trust and reuse.

According to Liu He's plan, after he collects the military power in the hands of the governors and taishou in various places, he will promote the reform of the Han official system, and then Xun Yu and Zhong Xuan will succeed Liu Yu and become important candidates for the core members of the seven cabinets of the Han Dynasty. (To be continued......)