The old man’s implication was that he hoped that the war between the Zhou army and the Tang army for Hexi could end as soon as possible. Li Jing certainly understood what he meant. He smiled faintly: “The Hexi counties except Wuwei County have no troops to guard the other counties, at most they are a small number of county soldiers. These are not enough to worry about. Our mission is not only to seize Hexi, but also to maintain the stability of Hexi. This requires the support of all ethnic groups in Hexi, everyone trusts and benefits each other, and jointly maintains the long-term stability and prosperity of the Hexi Corridor.”

The old man in charge said sincerely: "The Emperor of Great Zhou wiped out the Turkic army in Bingzhou two years ago, which led to the Turkic slums. Now it is still in a civil war. That battle also brought great benefits to Hexi. In the past, every spring and autumn, Turkic cavalry would rush into Hexi to blackmail the sheep and horses, forcing us to pay taxes. However, since the Turkic defeat in the southern expedition, the Turkic army has never invaded Hexi again. We have lived a peaceful life for two years. To be honest, all tribes in Hexi are very grateful for the kindness of the Emperor of Great Zhou. As long as the Great Zhou Dynasty takes over Hexi, it can continue to maintain the low taxes and not occupy the pastures, then the long-term prosperity of the Hexi Corridor will definitely come."

The old man expressed two meanings. One is that they were grateful to the Great Zhou Empire for fighting against the Turks and were willing to become the people of the Great Zhou Empire. This is a clear attitude, and the second is the most realistic condition. Maintain the current low taxes and ensure that the pastures of various tribes are not violated, so that Hexi can continue to be stable. Otherwise, it will definitely cause resistance from the Qiang people.

Li Jing nodded, "I hope you can pass the words to the tribes in Hexi. The Great Zhou Empire will treat the tribes in Hexi as always, and will not invade everyone's traditional pastures, nor increase taxes. On the contrary, we will vigorously encourage trade between Hexi and the Central Plains, so that the people of the Central Plains can eat mutton from Hexi, use the animal power of Hexi, and also enable all ethnic groups in Hexi to wear the best silk and excellent daily necessities. Only when everyone complements the surplus and shortages will the economy be more prosperous."

Everyone was overjoyed and bowed together, "We can completely relieve ourselves when we say this to the general."

Two days later, the 30,000 cavalry of Zhou troops finished resting, and they re-mounted the war horses, with flags like clouds and murderous intent, and they rushed towards Guzang to the south.

In February, Zhongdu will start the annual imperial examination again. However, starting this year, the imperial examination has made several major reforms. In previous years, the imperial examinations were recommended by various counties to go to Beijing to take the exam. There are some unfair factors in this. After all, most of the scholars who can get recommended have some aristocratic backgrounds.

However, the county examination has been implemented this year. The county examination is also called the honor of the juren, also known as the juren. Only the juren who passes the county examination is eligible to go to Beijing to participate in the Jinshi exam. Moreover, the county examination will be further added starting next year. Those who pass the exam are called Tongsheng and can take the county examination. This will form a three-level examination for the county, county and Beijing. This is a major reform of the imperial examination system to ensure that the imperial examination is more fair.

Not only that, martial arts exams have been added to this year's Zhongdu imperial examination, and nearly 100,000 talented warriors gathered in the city, making Zhongdu even more lively.

All the inns in Zhongdu were full, including those in Anyang County, and there were no accommodation seats, and even temples were filled with scholars. Although the conditions for the increase in county examinations this year were restricted, due to the suspension of the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty this year, an important diversion channel disappeared, causing scholars from all counties and counties in the world to gather in Zhongdu, and the participation in the imperial examinations was far more than in previous years, and the highest in previous years.

However, the scholars in the Tang Dynasty were slightly favorable. They did not implement the county examination, so as long as the recommendation letters of officials above the county magistrate could come to Zhongzhong to take the exam. However, there were not many places for the Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty, only forty-eight, and the admission quota this year was 200.

In addition, in order to cope with the special requirements of the scholars participating in the martial arts, the Ministry of War and the military station specially set up a camp covering an area of ​​thousands of acres outside the Dongcheng City, which was assigned to the scholars participating in the martial arts to live in, and strictly implement military management on them. Five thousand scholars could only take turns to leave the camp on holiday.

The annual imperial examination is not only a harvest of inns, but also a booming business, including the wine shops and brothels. At noon, the Dongchuan wine shop near the Dongcheng Gate is crowded with people, and the three floors are filled with scholars who come to eat. Since it is close to the Wuju camp, almost all the wine shops participate in the Wuju.

In a corner of the second floor, there were seven or eight martial artists sitting. It can be seen that they were all military. They were all tall and tall, with straight waists, and were majestic, with a completely different temperament from those of the imperial examination scholars.

Most of the scholars who participated in the martial arts this time came from the Great Zhou army. All the low-level generals and soldiers below the Eagle Fighter General are qualified to participate. However, they are actually excellent soldiers recommended by each army, and they are all competed for 100 places for martial Jinshi in the army.

These seven or eight military scholars all came from Yuchi Gong's army. Since there were literary exams in the military exam, this actually restricted most enthusiastic soldiers. After all, they selected generals who could lead troops to fight instead of fierce generals who fought on the battlefield. However, if they were really brave generals of the three armies, they could also participate in the military exam. Even if they handed in the literary exam, as long as they were skilled in martial arts, they would still be admitted to another exam without taking up the quota for martial arts.

"I heard that the chief examiner of this martial arts examination was Li Shangshu of the Ministry of War, which was divided into three categories: martial arts and liberal arts, martial arts and martial arts examinations, riding and shooting, and weapons. The liberal arts examinations were used to test the civil and military strategy. Although I have been studying in my hometown for a few years, I really don't read many military books, so I'm really worried."

The speaker is Yang Shiyan, about 27 or 28 years old, from Hongnong County. He is currently serving as a captain in the army. He only joined the army last year. Although he only served for one year, he was appointed as a captain with his strong martial arts skills and was promoted to a captain with extraordinary abilities. If he could pass the martial arts examination this time, he could be promoted to the Eagle Fighting General.

Everyone laughed, "Brother Yang is too modest. If Brother Yang is still worried about himself, what should we do?"

Yang Shiyan shook his head and said, "The main reason is that the imperial examination scholars are allowed to participate in the military examination after the imperial examination is over. We are much weaker than them in terms of literary talent."

Another scholar said: "Brother Yang must not belittle himself. He said that this martial arts exam is the seven martial arts and the third martial arts exam, or the main focus is on martial arts. As long as everyone passes the martial arts skills, I don't think the exam is too difficult. After all, the emperor does not like people who talk about war on paper, and they still focus on practical experience. Where do those scholars have any practical experience?"

"Brother Ma is right. As far as I know, this literary test is not about letting everyone write about Sun Tzu's Art of War, but to use practical combat as the subject to coordinate the operation in the future. This is to test practical experience. People who have not experienced war will not understand the drum and flag language on the battlefield. If you take a scout question, most scholars probably won't know. Do they know how to enter the forest and fly birds? Do they understand the rules of reporting every five miles? Do they know how to distinguish between whistle and rocket?"

Everyone gathered up and asked, "Is this statement true?"

"It was General Yuchi who said it. With his identity, I don't think he can't talk nonsense!"

Everyone suddenly saw hope. If this was the case, then this martial arts will be beneficial to those of them who came out of the army.

In the Ziwei Pavilion, the prime ministers were discussing the specific arrangements for the imperial examination, including the Minister of Rites, the Minister of War, the Chief of Military Commander, the Censor, and other important officials also participated in the discussion.

The discussion was chaired by Prime Minister Su Wei, and Su Wei's resignation was approved by Zhang Xuan. However, because the front-line war was fierce, Zhang Xuan was worried about causing unnecessary fluctuations, so he hoped that Su Wei would persist for a few more months and officially change to the position of Taishi after the war was over. This requirement was reasonable, and Su Wei accepted it. However, everyone understood that he was old and that the basic heavy government affairs would no longer be handed over to him. The court did not arrange Su Wei on duty at night.

"The fact that this imperial examination was strongly reflected was the scholars in the Tang Dynasty. Since the Tang Dynasty did not implement the county examination, this made the scholars in the Zhou and Tang Dynasties unfair. The scholars in the Zhou Dynasty responded strongly and submitted signatures of ten thousand people, requiring additional examinations to be conducted on the scholars in the Tang Dynasty. Do you think it is necessary to have additional examinations?"

After Su Wei finished speaking, he quickly glanced at the emperor Zhang Xuan who was sitting above and listening. Zhang Xuan did not often attend Ziwei Pavilion discussions and would occasionally put forward his own opinions. However, under normal circumstances, he did not express his opinion. He would interfere only when there were three votes of objection in the vote.
Chapter completed!