A simple "land of life and death" is enough to show the importance Liu Ziqiu attaches to the entire Liaodong. This level of attention did not even appear when he broke into Mobei. Because Liu Ziqiu knew that in the original history, Yang
A million-strong army conquered Goryeo, but only a few thousand people came back alive in the end. Therefore, Liaodong is a real place of life and death. A little carelessness will cause the Han Dynasty, which has just settled down, to suffer serious injuries.
Li Jing pondered and said: "Your Majesty, do you mean to make good friends with the surrounding tribes first, and then recover Huaiyuan?"
Making friends from far away and attacking at close range is also an important and effective strategy in foreign wars. It is not surprising that Li Jing had some ideas. But Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said: "Anyone who dares to offend China will be punished no matter how far away! The reason why I want to be cautious is that I don't want to injure anyone."
My Han disciples have increased casualties. But no matter what, we cannot allow barbarians to interfere with the land of our Han Dynasty, and Huaiyuan must be recovered. Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin, you two have not yet achieved any military exploits in our dynasty, so I will give this opportunity to you.
"
Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin were overjoyed and hurriedly raised their hands and said, "The last general has received his order!"
Liu Ziqiu also warned: "Let's go to western Liaoning and recover Huaiyuan. Don't be greedy for success and rush forward!"
…
When Yang Guang was in power, he had already dug the Yongji Canal from Luoyang to Yuyang. Yuyang is past Lulong, and Lulong is only a few dozen miles away from Shanhaiguan, and beyond it is the boundary of Liucheng County. There are
With the Yongji Canal, it will be much more convenient to transport troops or grain. Yang Guang left many dragon boats behind, but Liu Ziqiu did not need these things. He had already ordered these dragon boats to be transformed into transport ships, and now they are just in use.
A few days ago, Yu Chigong had led 20,000 troops to reinforce western Liaoning. According to the itinerary, he should have arrived at Yancheng. Now, Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin each led 20,000 troops and horses. With these 60,000 troops, if they want to regain a small city
It is not difficult to reach the county seat. This is not something Liu Ziqiu has to rely on. After all, Huaiyuan County is within the territory of the Han Dynasty. It is a home battle and can receive support from all aspects.
Sure enough, half a month later, good news came from western Liaoning. As soon as the three armies arrived, the Goryeo soldiers and horses had already withdrawn from Huaiyuan and retreated to Wugu City. After repairing the walls of Huaiyuan and sending troops to garrison, the army would be ready to move forward soon.
Return to Luoyang.
…
The border crisis was temporarily resolved, but Liu Ziqiu did not take it lightly. He summoned the generals to discuss and asked: "When did Goryeo occupy such a large area of land?"
Indeed, judging from the map, half of Goryeo's territory was to the west of the Yalu River, which made Liu Ziqiu, who came from a later generation and was accustomed to the Yalu River as the boundary, feel very uncomfortable.
After returning to Luoyang, Yu Shinan was not idle. He dug out the map of the early Jin Dynasty from the vast collection of books in Chongwen Hall, pointed to the northeast corner, and said: "Your Majesty, please see, before the Jin Dynasty, this place belonged to Liaodong County.
Even the area around Pyongyang City was under the jurisdiction of Lelang County and Daifang County respectively. Later, during the Jin Dynasty, Goguryeo took the opportunity to raise troops and annexed most of Liaodong County, Lelang County and Daifang County."
Only then did Liu Ziqiu understand the evolution of the map of North Korea. He nodded slightly and said, "I see."
Li Jing always knew that Liu Ziqiu had a character that was determined to fight for every inch of territory, so he raised his hand and said, "Your Majesty, are you going to raise troops to attack Goryeo and restore the old land of Jin?"
Liu Ziqiu shook his head and said: "Since this land originally belongs to China, how can I, as the first emperor of China, abandon the land of my ancestors and ignore it. However, this matter is not urgent and can be discussed in the long term.
"
After a pause, Liu Ziqiu continued: "Jin has lost its land for a long time. Who is familiar with the mountains and geography there? Who knows about climate change? Marching matters need to be planned before taking action!"
…
After these discussions, the imperial court gradually relaxed its attitude toward Liaodong, but secretly organized hundreds of scouts, using caravans as cover, to penetrate into Goryeo, Baekje, Silla, Xi, Ping, Khitan, Mohe, and Shi.
In the territory of Wei and other nomadic peoples, they collected intelligence on humanities, geography, climate and other aspects. In the eyes of people at the time, this intelligence did not involve military affairs, so the caravans that collected the intelligence did not arouse the suspicion of the locals.
Everything went very smoothly.
However, the Han Dynasty did not calm down in October. On the contrary, it became extremely lively because two major events were about to take place.
The first exciting event is the imperial examination that Liu Ziqiu has planned for a long time. This is also the country's talent promotion ceremony. Whether it can be successfully held is related to the future of the country. Starting from the beginning of the year, the cabinet headed by Wei Zheng began to prepare for this event.
event.
Different from the imperial examination conducted in the Yang Guang era, Liu Ziqiu not only divided the imperial examination into three subjects: civil arts, martial arts, and engineering, but also limited the age of the students who participated in the imperial examination. Only those over eighteen years old and under thirty years old could
Qualification to participate in the imperial examination. This was Liu Ziqiu's decision after careful consideration. He was too young and his mind was not yet mature. Even if he could stand out in the imperial examination, it would be difficult to entrust him with affairs. But he was too old, and many aspects had been stereotyped and lacked plasticity.
In addition to the age limit, talents selected through the imperial examination will not be immediately appointed to official positions. They must also enter the newly established Imperial College to study for two years. During these two years, they will be exposed to many things, including some laws of the imperial court.
, the operation of various ministries. They will also take turns to serve in the cabinet and various ministries to cultivate their practical abilities. More importantly, Liu Ziqiu will personally go to Taiyuan University to teach and instill some ideas in them, such as everyone is equal before the law, such as private ownership
Property is sacred and inviolable. For example, the country belongs to all Han people and not to the emperor alone. Liu Ziqiu has not disclosed these contents now because he knows that Wei Zheng and others will definitely object.
Because those who passed the imperial examination, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, could enter the court and become officials. This was very attractive to the people of the Han Dynasty, especially the engineering examination, which had never been done before, and it also attracted some illiterate craftsmen.
Hope was reached, so the city of Luoyang was overcrowded for a while.
Of course, the focus of the imperial examination is still on liberal arts. Since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism and Taoism have been the only ones, which has made the Chinese people accustomed to scholars governing the world. Therefore, in the first imperial examination of the Han Dynasty, the final quota for liberal arts was 300
Sixty people, that is to say, 360 people will pass the liberal arts examination and become officials of the Han Dynasty. In comparison, there are only sixteen people who will eventually pass the martial arts examination, and only six people who will pass the engineering examination.
There are far fewer liberal arts subjects. The quota allocation plan was also approved by most officials in the court. After all, they were scholars themselves. The entire imperial examination was run by the cabinet from beginning to end. Liu Ziqiu only listened to their reports and occasionally made suggestions.
, and did not interfere.
However, when the list of all the candidates was finally reported in front of Liu Ziqiu, he still saw some clues. Among the seven major aristocratic families, only the descendants of the Li family in Longxi and the Wang family in Taiyuan signed up. No one from the other five aristocratic families participated.
It was obviously a demonstration against Liu Ziqiu with practical actions. Of course, in addition to these five major families, some other second-rate and third-rate families also sent people to participate, and some did not send anyone to participate. For example, the Yang family in Hongnong, the Shangguan family in Chang'an,
The Du family sent their children to participate, which was also a kind of support for Liu Ziqiu. It also showed that the family group was beginning to split, which was also a good thing for the court.
The Xie family in Jiangnan naturally sent many children to participate. They have entered the ranks of the top aristocratic families, all thanks to the edict issued by Liu Ziqiu. Now the Xie family has been tied to Liu Ziqiu, and of course they will spare no effort to support them.
Brothers Liu Ziqiu, Xie Zhiwen, and Xie Zhiwu stayed in Luoyang for half a year to prepare for the imperial examination. The only thing that surprised Liu Ziqiu was that Xie Zhiwu also applied for liberal arts. In fact, this is not surprising, given his three-legged tricks.
If you really apply for martial arts with your kung fu, the possibility of failing will be extremely high.
Liu Ziqiu does not feel sorry for the absence of the five major families. On the contrary, Liu Ziqiu is sure that these five major families will regret their wrong decisions today. The reason why they can become aristocratic families is their power and money, and their wealth is also
There must be power to protect them. Missing this imperial examination means that within four years, no one from these aristocratic families will enter the court as an official, because the imperial examination will only be held every four years. A lot will happen in four years.
The thing is, when four years pass and officials change, they will find that there are fewer and fewer people in the court.
However, Liu Ziqiu soon discovered something even more surprising to him, or in other words, a candidate who surprised him even more.
The first candidate who surprised him was Changsun Wuji from Luoyang. Once upon a time, he regarded Changsun Wuji as his brother, and the two of them talked happily. However, time passed, and Changsun Wuji followed Li Shimin to Jiangnan to sneak attack on him.
As his wife and children, the two sides could never return to the same feelings as before. Originally, Liu Ziqiu pardoned Changsun Wuji because he was still young. However, he never thought that Changsun Wuji would also be eighteen years old this year and he signed up to take the imperial examination.
take an exam.
With Changsun Wuji's talent and learning, passing the imperial examination is not a problem. The question is, will he be loyal to the court? Should Liu Ziqiu disqualify him from the examination?
What made Liu Ziqiu even more embarrassed was another candidate, Li Jiancheng from Longxi, Li Yuan's eldest son.
After Li Yuan surrendered, he was moved out of Luoyang by Liu Ziqiu and sent to Longxi. However, with the shrewdness of the old brothers Li Changshan and Li Changfeng, it was naturally impossible to accept Li Yuan's family as members of the Li family in Longxi. Therefore, Li Jiancheng signed up this time as an ordinary
The test was conducted as a candidate. Even if Liu Ziqiu wanted to make a fool of himself, he never thought that Li Jiancheng would come to take part in the imperial examination. You can imagine how humiliating and heavy a burden he had to bear to make such a decision! Whether or not Li Jiancheng was allowed to take part in the imperial examination was also a difficult problem!