Tibet.

Chapter 1464 Return from a Distance
The war finally ended before dawn. The Tubo army fought to the death until the last man was killed. Although their spirit was commendable, it also brought huge losses to the Tang army. The Tang army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, including more than 2,000 deaths in battle.

All 10,000 Tubo soldiers were killed, including their leader Ma Chongying, who was blown into several pieces. The soldiers finally found his head.

Firearms played a huge role in this battle. More than half of the Tibetan soldiers were killed by explosions or fell down by poisoned iron balls.

The Tang army spent a whole day cleaning the battlefield, burning the corpses, and putting the ashes of the fallen Tang soldiers into urns, preparing to take them back to Chang'an.

Xi Wanli brought several generals to the temporary city built by Tubo. It was of the same style as the fortress they encountered in the Kingdom of Qishi before. It was built with huge stones and was very rough. However, the area was not small, about the same size as a small county town.

Many stone houses were built in the city, which should be warehouses filled with various logistical supplies.

Xi Wanli stood on the top of the city wall and looked into the distance. He saw many dots all around, who should be locals. Dabolü was indeed a rare place suitable for living. The land on both sides of the Shiquan River was very fertile, there were large forests in the distance, and there was plenty of sunshine.

At this time, a group of soldiers came to Bolor with several local people. The soldiers took them up to the city and came to Xi Wanli.

The old men did not look like Tibetans. Instead, they were exactly the same as the people of the Qishi Kingdom and Xiaoboluo. Of course, it was normal to be the same as the Xiaoboluo people, as they were originally one country.

Several old men knelt down to salute, Xi Wanli waved his hand and said with a smile: "Please stand up, elders. No need to be polite!"

A soldier translated for them. Several old men stood up tremblingly. Xi Wanli pointed to the wheat field in the distance and asked, "Is that wheat field yours?"

Several old men shook their heads and said, "Those are the Tibetans' wheat fields. Our wheat fields are farther away."

Xi Wanli was a little puzzled, "Are there Tibetan civilians living nearby?"

Several elders explained with a smile: "There are no Tibetan civilians. The Tibetans we are talking about are the Tibetan army."

So that's how it is. Xi Wanli nodded and said, "I know these were originally your lands, but they were forcibly occupied by the Tibetans. So I invited you here because I plan to return some of the land to you."

The old men were surprised and delighted, and immediately knelt down to express their gratitude.

Xi Wanli smiled again and said, "I will station some troops here. I hope we can jointly guard against Tubo. If the Tubo army comes, you must inform the garrison in advance."

Several elders hurriedly said: "We will definitely do our best to assist the Tang army in guarding against the Tubo army!"

The army rested for another two days. Xi Wanli ordered Yingyang Xie Yunfeng to lead a thousand troops to garrison in Dabolü for one year. New troops would arrive to replace them tomorrow.

Xi Wanli immediately led his army back to the Kingdom of Qishi. On the way, he stayed in Xiaobolü for a day, and stationed 500 troops in Xiaobolü and the Kingdom of Qishi respectively. The 10,000-strong army returned to Anxi in a mighty manner.

Beilong Bay in Bohai Prefecture is the northernmost seaport of the Tang Dynasty and also a military port. The Tang Dynasty navy stationed 3,000 troops and hundreds of warships here.

That morning, a fierce alarm bell suddenly sounded from the high tower, "Boom-boom-boom--"

The sound of the bells spread throughout the harbor, and the soldiers in the barracks ran out and headed for the dock.

Jiao Yuanli, the commander of the Tang army, also rode to the dock and shouted, "What happened?"

A soldier ran up to report: "General, three large ships were spotted in the north. We don't know where they came from, and they are heading towards our harbor!"

Jiao Yuanli was stunned. How could a large ship come from the north? This had never happened before!
He immediately ordered General Guo Qingyun, "General Guo, lead ten fast ships to investigate immediately!"

"Follow the order!"

Guo Qingyun immediately led a hundred soldiers on ten speedboats and sailed out of the harbor to meet the three large ships in the distance.

The three 10,000-stone ships were the ones that Yang Liangyao and his party had gone through numerous hardships to return to the Tang Dynasty. There were only three ships left. A month ago, the last steam engine was shut down, and they could only rely on pedal paddles to travel. In today's Central America, they encountered wind and waves. While avoiding the wind and waves, a large ship accidentally hit a reef and eventually sank. Fortunately, all supplies and personnel were transferred to the other three large ships. Despite this, more than 20 soldiers died of illness on the way, including Yao Chunshan, who was responsible for maintaining the steam engine. He was old and his body could not withstand the hard work of sailing thousands of miles, so he died a month ago.

At this time, everyone's will has reached its limit. If they don't return to the Tang Dynasty, many people will go crazy.

Suddenly, a soldier pointed ahead and shouted, "There is a ship ahead, it is the battle flag of the Tang Dynasty!"

Everyone could see clearly that ten 500-dan fast ships were coming towards them. The warships were flying the Tang army's red-bottomed black dragon flag. All the people on the three large ships cheered.

Even Yang Liangyao couldn't hold back her tears and finally returned to Datang.

Three large ships with a capacity of ten thousand liters began to slowly approach the port. Jiao Yuanli could not help but stand in awe when he learned that they were Tang soldiers who had been ordered to go out to sea for an expedition of tens of thousands of miles and returned.

Two thousand Tang troops lined up to welcome the return of the expedition team. Jiao Yuanli also ordered the soldiers to board the ship to help the team members get off the ship. After living on the sea for too long, many of them could not stand on land.

At this time, Yang Liangyao said to Jiao Yuanli: "We have brought back a lot of important crop seeds, which are the important things that the emperor has been waiting for. We soldiers can rest here, but I must return to Chang'an as soon as possible. Please make arrangements for me, General."

Jiao Yuanli nodded. "If you don't have much stuff, you can go by land, ride a horse to Chang'an, and keep changing horses. You can reach Chang'an in as fast as one month. If you go by water, it will take at least two months!"

Yang Liangyao thought for a moment and said, "We can do it both on land and on water. We can take some of it away on horseback, and take the rest by water!"

Jiao Yuanli immediately divided his troops into two groups. He sent a hundred soldiers to escort Jiao Yuanli by land, and at the same time arranged three warships to take the water route to transport a large amount of important supplies to Chang'an.

Before leaving, Yang Liangyao handed a small bag of corn seeds to the county magistrate Wang Yuan, asking him to try planting them in Longyuan County.

As time gradually approached May, an examination that concerned thousands of households was being carried out in Guanzhong and Luoyang areas.

This was the beginning of the local civil service reform. The officials mainly included two clerks in charge of criminal law and household administration, as well as the school director, the criminal police and the six departments. In addition, there were six county school assistants, a total of sixteen people, but the county school assistants were not included in this exam.

The Guanzhong area and Luoyang area are pilot areas. After successful promotion in these two places, it will be promoted to other parts of the country.

The examination center in Guanzhong was in Chang'an. About a thousand candidates from nearly a hundred counties across Guanzhong gathered in Chang'an. These candidates were of varying ages, some were in their forties and some were only in their twenties.

Although there were not many people, the whole Chang'an became lively because of their arrival. People in the streets and even in the rooms of Chang'an were talking about this exam.

Including the Tang Dynasty Weekly, which also published an article by Prime Minister Wei Jiansu, explaining the significance of this exam.

The imperial court attached great importance to this examination. All candidates' food and lodging were covered by the court, while the round-trip fare was paid by the county government.

The court mainly provided subsidies in the form of 300 wen per person per day, including 200 wen for accommodation and 100 wen for food.

A good room in a medium-sized inn costs only two hundred coins per room, and one hundred coins is enough for three meals in the inn. Of course, if you insist on staying in a private courtyard or eating out in a restaurant, that will definitely not be enough, and you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket.

At noon that day, a restaurant in Chongrenfang was bustling with people. Several clerks from Chencang County were sitting on the second floor drinking. Wang Han, the county lieutenant of Chencang County, was the leader.

Wang Han picked up his wine glass and slowly said to everyone: "I had a brief chat with my relatives in the court today. It is said that the exam is very simple. As long as you don't slack off in your daily life, you can basically pass it. It tests what you usually do, the various documents that you are tired of doing. Of course, it is in the form of a case. I will give you a small matter and see how you deal with it."

Everyone laughed and said, "As long as we don't test you on various scriptures, that's fine!"

Chief Constable Ma Hui asked, "What should we take the examination for Chief Constables?"

(End of this chapter)