Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1443 The birth of the imperial examination system

Chapter 1441: The birth of the imperial examination system

After Li Zicheng's death, the Yanzhou Ming army had no leader, and coupled with the heavy losses of the main force, it was naturally difficult to resist Cao Cao's attack.

It took Cao Cao Lianzhan Lianjie only one month to unify 78 counties in the five counties and three kingdoms of Yanzhou, and surrendered 40 soldiers and civilians in Mount Tai, completely ending the three-year melee in Yanzhou.

Li Zicheng's military adviser Li Yan and his nephew Li Guo led the remaining Taishan Ming army and went east to join Zhu Yuanzhang.

Li Yan and Li Guo originally wanted to cross the Yellow River and go to Ming Court, but because Yanjin Ferry was occupied by General Cao Jun, the road to Hebei was completely blocked, so he had to go to Xuzhou to join Zhu Yuanzhang .

Li Zicheng died in battle, Li Yan and Li Guo fled, and Cao Cao selected a hundred thousand soldiers from Taishan's army and civilians, who were light and strong, and formed an army, named "Taishan Soldiers".

The unification of Yanzhou shocked Zhu Yuanzhang in Xuzhou, Zhao Kuangyin in Yuzhou, and even Qin Hao in Luoyang.

Whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhao Kuangyin, or even Qin Hao, Yanzhou is too close to them. No one wants Yanzhou to be unified. A chaotic Yanzhou is more in line with their interests.

However, Cao Cao's actions were too fast. He directly eliminated Li Zicheng, and quickly unified Yanzhou within a month, without giving any surrounding forces a chance to interfere.

Now Yanzhou has completed the unification. After Cao Cao reorganized 20 Taishan soldiers, the total force under his command is nearly [-]. He is no longer the Cao Cao who needs to rely on others.

Although all the princes were dissatisfied with this, they had nothing to do. Instead, they needed to win over Cao Cao to prevent him from being pushed against him.

After unifying the five counties and three kingdoms of Yanzhou, plus Yingchuan County, where he started, Cao Cao already has 9 counties in his hands.

In terms of the number of counties he owns, Cao Cao is second only to Qin Hao.

But when it comes to overall strength, Cao Cao, who has 20 troops, looks very strong on the surface, but in fact he is just a strong outsider.

The internal friction in Yanzhou was too serious. Cao Cao first fought against the four princes of Yanzhou, and then he fought against the elite soldiers of Mount Tai and Li Zicheng. They fought for three years, not only destroying the whole Yanzhou, but also consuming the foundation of Yanzhou all clean.

Yanzhou was originally the hardest-hit area of ​​the Yellow Turban Uprising. Before the Yellow Turban Uprising, it had a population of 600 million, but after the failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising, it dropped to 300 million. It was the most traumatized state among the thirteen states.

After Cao Cao defeated Li Zicheng's Yanzhou, there were only about 150 million people left, which was only a quarter of the peak period.

In just ten years, Yanzhou lost three-quarters of its total population, which is nearly 450 million people. This shows how harmful the troubled times on the battlefield are.

Although Cao Cao defeated Li Zicheng, what he got was only a dilapidated Yanzhou. Fortunately, 40 Taishan people were recruited, which restored Yanzhou's vitality a lot.

Yanzhou has a total population of 150 million, including 40 Taishan people, plus Yingchuan County with more than 40 people, Cao Cao has a total population of 240 million.

With a total population of 240 million, but a full army of 20?

If the land under Cao Cao's rule is rich, it can barely support it, but obviously, except for Yingchuan County, Cao Cao's territory is extremely dilapidated, and naturally it is impossible to afford 20 troops.

Cao Cao knew that Yanzhou could not afford so many troops, but he insisted on maintaining such a large number of troops. This was actually a helpless move.

The beaten Yanzhou's foundation is too weak, but it is in the place of the Fourth World War. As long as he shows such a slight weakness, the surrounding wolves will gather to divide him up. Therefore, Cao Cao must have at least 20 troops to deter him. The princes who coveted him all around.

The 240 million people in Yanzhou alone cannot support 20 troops, so Cao Cao can only implement the strategy of garrisoning fields to reduce the consumption caused by too many troops.

While implementing the farming strategy, Cao Cao also fully imitated Qin Hao and thoroughly promoted the "Dahan Field Mu System", so as to restore Yanzhou's vitality as soon as possible.

There are not many aristocratic families in Yanzhou now, and the power of the aristocratic families is unprecedentedly weak, so it is naturally impossible to stop Cao Cao.

In addition to comprehensively promoting the field mu system, Cao Cao also followed the example of Sui Wang Yang Guang in Liangzhou, abandoning the original examination system and implementing imperial examinations in Yanzhou to recruit talents.

Long before the Qiang king sent troops to attack Yang Guang, Yang Guang took the lead in proposing the imperial examination system in Liangzhou in order to recruit talents from poor families.

As soon as the imperial examination system came out, it immediately caused a sensation all over the world. Not many scholars responded to Yang Guang's call to participate, and more of them criticized Yang Guang verbally. Only local disciples from poor families in Liangzhou responded to the imperial examination.

The election of officials in the Han Dynasty is based on the inspection system to promote filial piety, which has continued from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the present, but Yang Guang took the lead in breaking the old system, which will naturally arouse the criticism of people all over the world.

Yang Guang didn't care about this at all. His reputation was not good, and it was impossible for disciples from rich families to join him. Only with the support of disciples from poor families could he be qualified to continue participating in the hegemony.

In addition, the Yelu Abaoji of the Qiang nationality is coming soon. If even Liangzhou cannot be defended, it is useless for Yang Guang to have such a reputation. Therefore, even if he knew the consequences of implementing the imperial examination, Yang Guang resolutely chose to implement the imperial examination.

After the implementation of the imperial examination system in Liangzhou, although it only attracted local disciples from poor families in Liangzhou and some disciples from poor families in Kansai, it also greatly alleviated the plight of Yang Guang's lack of talents. Only then did he come to seek refuge, and he was Cheng Gongying.

Cheng Gongying was originally Han Sui's military adviser. After Han Sui's death, he surrendered to Cao Cao and was appointed as a military adviser and named Liehou. He was a rare resourceful man in Liangzhou.

Cheng Gongying, who was born in a poor family, has been on the sidelines in this life, and has not turned to Han Sui. Seeing that Yang Guang proposed the imperial examination system, which is considered for the poor families in the world, he felt that Yang Guang was the one who was waiting for him, so he immediately took the initiative to go He took refuge in Yang Guang.

Yang Guang had also heard of Cheng Gongying's name, and he was overjoyed when he learned that he took the initiative to vote. After a long talk, he appointed him as a military adviser to advise him.

Later, when the Qiang king Yelu Abaoji came to attack, it was also Cheng Gongying who went to lobby Ma Teng and Han Sui to get them and Yang Guang to put aside their previous suspicions and form a coalition army to fight against the Qiang army. It completely solved the century-old trouble of the big man.

Although Yang Guang's implementation of the imperial examination in Liangzhou attracted continuous criticism, it did not have any impact on Yang Guang who was far away in Xiliang. Instead, he became the overlord of Liangzhou because of the remarkable effect of the imperial examination system.

The other princes had many concerns and did not dare to try the imperial examination system easily, but Cao Cao had to try because he had no other choice at all.

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