At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 687, Learning from the Han and the Military Parade
October 54, 10th year of the Han calendar, Antioch, Datong Village.

After Liu Ruyi integrated the opinions of the upper echelons, the Seleucid Empire dismissed soldiers and distributed land equally almost simultaneously. Antioch was the first place to distribute land equally. The reason was very simple. After the mutual attacks between the Huns and the allies, not only did the nobles around Antioch disappear, but also a large number of towns and villages disappeared. It can be said that the area within a hundred miles of Antioch was turned into a wasteland by the war.

It was a disaster for ordinary people living in this area, but after the war, this place was a blank slate. The nobles were cleansed and the landlords fled. Liu Ruyi and his team only needed to arrange for the farmers to return and redistribute the land to them. This kind of village was also the strongest supporter of the new Seleucid government.

On this day, the head of Datong Village received a message from above saying that a group of heroes were coming back and they were asked to make some heroic preparations. The head of the village notified the villagers to welcome the heroes of their village, and the villagers were also excitedly waiting for their relatives to arrive.

The Seleucid rebels dismissed their soldiers in the same way as Xu Fan had done. They settled the retired soldiers in Damascus and Antioch. This area had fertile land, a prosperous economy, and was close to the Mediterranean Sea. It had always been one of the richest regions in the Seleucid Empire. The new rebel government naturally wanted to control this land, so there were the most retired soldiers in these new villages, and it was also the best place to implement their policies.

After a while, the villagers heard a series of "thump thump" sounds, and soon they saw a tractor approaching slowly. The two tractors were full of people.

"Here it comes. Here it comes!" the villagers said excitedly.

The village chief shouted, "Light the firecrackers! Old John, beat the drum!"

"Crackle, crackle!" A burst of firecrackers sounded, this time mixed with the sound of drums.

Two tractors soon stopped at the entrance of the village.

Many elderly people were excited when they saw these people and said, "My son is back, my son is back."

The other villagers were also excited. Although fighting on the front line was hard, the logistical supplies were really abundant. The food for these soldiers was much better than that for civilians. The young men who had gone out to fight had now become strong men with ruddy complexions.

The village chief limped forward with his cane and said, "Thank you, both county magistrates, for sending our village's hero home."

The village chief was also one of the veterans of the rebel army, but he was unlucky. A shell directly blew off one of his legs. He barely survived after three months of recuperation in the field hospital. But the war could not be fought, so he had to retire. According to the tradition of Daqinzhou, the fate of these wounded soldiers would be miserable, but Liu Ruyi would not cry again when he saw these heroes who shed blood for the country and the nation. He established a nursing home for these wounded who could not take care of themselves. For those who still had a certain degree of mobility, he trained them to become village chiefs, pavilion chiefs and other grassroots officials. He also planned to train some of them to become doctors and teachers. In short, he arranged a job for them to support themselves.

Zhou Jianyi smiled and said, "You're welcome. These are the heroes of the victorious Xiongnu people. It is only right to send them back."

That’s right, Zhou Jianyi became one of the county magistrates of the Seleucid Empire.

The reason is very simple. When the Seleucid Empire was founded, it fully learned the policies of the Han Dynasty, formulated a centralized system, and implemented the county system in the local area.

However, this system requires a huge number of officials, but the Seleucid Empire is extremely short of talent. It can be said that except for military talent, other talents such as industry, agriculture, and politics are extremely scarce. It cannot even find a few hundred county magistrates.

Before the rebels established the country, the Seleucid Empire was a feudal aristocratic state. This feudalism was completely different from that of the Han Dynasty. The Seleucid feudalism had nobles, fiefdoms, and even fiefdoms, as well as people of different races. The Seleucid system was even more chaotic than that of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

As long as the Seleucid state declined, local separatist nobles would have the possibility of establishing themselves as kings. The Parthian Empire took the opportunity to become independent. In the timeline without Xu Fan's interference, the Parthian Empire took hundreds of years to annex most of the Seleucid territories. The Romans only annexed the land of Damascus and Antioch in the Mediterranean area.

The current Seleucid Empire is even worse than it was during the time of Antiochus IV. Although the Seleucid Empire at that time was not a centralized state, the nobles had at least received education, and there were also Greek noble scholars serving as officials in the Seleucid Empire. These people managed to maintain the system of the Seleucid Empire and also created some small industrial zones.

However, the purge of the nobles during the war between the Seleucid Empire and the Huns directly drove away the already scarce talents. Poverty is not enough to describe the current Seleucid Empire. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a blank slate. If a medieval knight system is established in the Seleucid Empire, it can barely be maintained. However, if centralization is to be carried out, the official class must be cultivated. Liu Ruyi can only arrange people like Zhou Jianyi to be county magistrates, and then arrange three fake county magistrates to be handed over to Zhou Jianyi and other county magistrates to teach them how to handle local affairs.

County Magistrate Winnie White smiled and said, "Has the village prepared something for the Kuaima parade?"

The village chief nodded and said, "Of course we are ready, but we only have three old horses in our village."

Zhou Jianyi said: "Then let the three most meritorious heroes ride horses, and the other heroes walk behind with red flowers, and then their spoils follow behind."

After arranging the steps of the parade, Zhou Jianyi and two other people led the horses, and let the three people who had made the greatest contributions, Willick, Simmons, and Watson, ride the horses. The other heroes walked behind with big red flowers on their chests, and at the end were the trophies of those heroes.

Later, the crowd began a lively parade around the village, attracting villagers from the surrounding villages. Everyone looked at these heroes with excitement and envy, especially their spoils of war, which included large amounts of cloth, various clothes, and large amounts of food. These things were incomparably huge wealth for the villagers.

After the parade, Zhou Jianyi ordered people to take out the food he brought from the tractor and arrange a banquet. The villagers prepared a big pot, tables, chairs and benches. The villagers began to cook noodles. Boxes of canned beef and pork were taken out, and soon the aroma filled the surroundings of the village. Zhou Jianyi also took out two boxes of soda from the tractor and placed three bottles on a round table. The simple but relatively rich banquet was ready.

"Puff!" Willick opened a bottle of soda and said with a smile, "Everyone come and try it. This is soda made with sugar. If you drink soda on the battlefield, you won't even feel the pain from a gunshot wound."

Then he poured a small bowl of soda for each of his fellow villagers to taste. After drinking it, they were stunned, and the children tasted it and drank it quickly.

"It's so sweet! I've never tasted such delicious sugar water in my life." The villagers around said excitedly.

They like sweets more than the Han people, especially the ordinary people of the Seleucid Empire. Although the Age of Discovery arrived and a large amount of low-priced sugar from the Han Dynasty invaded Daqinzhou, this only allowed the nobles to eat various low-priced sugar products. For the people at the bottom, they still didn't know what white sugar tasted like.

Winnie White drank the soda in one gulp and said, "We will build our own soda factory, and there will be more and more soda like this in the future."

The war between the Allied Forces and the Huns brought the Han people's lifestyle to this land. Zhou Yafu had been providing logistics to the Allied Forces in accordance with Han standards. This included not only three meals a day, but also the soda that had been popular in the Han Dynasty in recent years. Winnie White was one of the senior officers of the rebel army. He had drunk this soda a year ago. He liked it the first time he tasted it and thought it was the best delicacy in the world.

In this way, they first paraded through the streets and then had a banquet. Everyone was very lively for half a day. When they were about to leave, Zhou Jianyi gathered Willick and others and said, "Although you have retired, you are still part of the volunteer army. You should spread the knowledge you learned in the army to more villagers so that they can also live a prosperous life."

Then Winnie White took out a pile of books and said, "You have learned Chinese characters in the army. These are the books that the consul bought from the Han Dynasty. There are medical books for barefoot doctors that can cure diseases. Willick, you have been trained in medical books, and this book is given to you. You have to build a clinic here, and you will be responsible for treating the sick citizens in the surrounding areas."

Willick took the book and said seriously, "As you wish!"

Zhou Jianyi took out a few more books and said, "This is the 'Book of Getting Rich' compiled by me. There are six volumes here. They all record some techniques for raising poultry, some techniques for making soil fertilizers, and some agricultural techniques for increasing production and income. Take them and study the skills above. Whether Datong Village can become rich depends on you."

Simmons, Watson and others also stepped forward to take the books. When they joined the army, they had to take cultural classes at night. Because there were not enough people who knew Seleucid characters at that time, they all learned Chinese. They could barely be considered literate, and they could read with the help of dictionaries and guess what they read.

"Instructor, rest assured, we won't let you down."

After the celebration, Datong Village began to resume its normal life. Willick opened a clinic in his own home and learned medical knowledge from Barefoot Doctor Mountain every day. The knowledge was all about how to treat the simplest illnesses, such as colds, diarrhea and other minor illnesses, as well as some medical knowledge. For this village with no medical resources at all, Willick, who could treat these simple illnesses, was a miracle doctor.

Simmons took a few of his comrades, used part of his retirement pay, bought some chicken, duck and goose seedlings, built an earthworm field, and led the villagers to start a breeding business.

Watson got a broken steam loom from somewhere, and he and some comrades who had learned repairmanship worked on it for a few days and actually fixed it. Then he set up a small textile workshop in the village, buying cotton from all around and weaving cloth.

In this way, countless Seleucid volunteers with certain skills and knowledge returned to the countryside. Under their leadership, the Seleucid countryside quickly recovered and life became better day by day.

November 54, 11th year of the Han calendar, in the suburbs of Chang'an.

God gave Zhou Yafu and other heroes face. Although the climate in Guanzhong was cold, it was a sunny day today. The winter sun was warm on people's bodies. At this time, hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an City all came to the Suzaku Street in Chang'an City, and then looked into the distance. After all, this was the first large-scale victory of the Han Dynasty in decades. For the people in Chang'an City, it was the first time for them to see the victorious army of the Han Dynasty.

"Why hasn't the army arrived yet?" some impatient people complained.

"It is said that they got off the train in Ba and had to march 5 kilometers, so naturally they couldn't go that fast."

Then someone enviously said, "The emperor attaches great importance to this victory. He will confer titles on three marquises, twelve earls, hundreds of viscounts and barons. Our Han Dynasty will have hundreds more nobles."

The people of Chang'an City were extremely surprised. You have to know that the Han Dynasty has granted very few fiefs in recent years, and even retired high-ranking officials no longer have titles. It is obvious that the emperor intends to reduce the size of the nobility, but now there are hundreds of nobles in one war. How can it not be surprising?

"It is true that wealth and honor can be found in the army!" The people of Chang'an were extremely envious.

"This is a natural thing. Don't think that the emperor has not used the sword for decades. This is because the emperor has fought all the battles that should be fought. When the Huns jumped, Your Majesty sent a large army to teach them a lesson, and the Huns' army of hundreds of thousands was reduced to ashes."

"Here it comes, here it comes!" Suddenly the crowd began to stir, and everyone saw a long dragon slowly moving towards them.

At the front of the army, Zhou Yafu, Li Ji and Fan Kuai were riding their war horses.

Fan Kang asked: "Brother Yafu, did you choose a vassal state or a fiefdom?"

This is also the tradition of the Han army. Generals who have made contributions will be asked for your choice in advance. If you are ambitious to expand, you will be directly granted a vassal state. If you want to continue to develop in the Han Dynasty, you will only be granted a nominal territory and a sum of money every year. This also solves the concerns of the generals on the front line. They don't have to worry about being too meritorious and shocking the lord. As long as the four continents of the Han Dynasty have not been fully developed, the generals will never have to worry about being too meritorious and shocking the lord. If it really reaches the point where there is no more reward, the worst that can happen is that you will be granted a vassal state.

There was originally an option of enfeoffment, but Xu Fan wanted to suppress local tyrants. Now, 50 years have passed since the founding of the Han Dynasty. The seven powerful countries have long disappeared, and now they have become powerful people who have grown up in the Han Dynasty. If we grant enfeoffment, it means creating a powerful family within the Han Dynasty. Both Xu Fan and Xu Aimin are trying to limit the emergence of powerful families, so the option of enfeoffment disappeared after years of the Han Dynasty.

Zhou Yafu said: "My family already has a vassal state, and I want to continue to stay in the Han Dynasty."

Li Ji smiled and said, "I think so too. Being a vassal is not as good as being a general in the Han Dynasty. I also want to be the prime minister and rule the world."

Zhou Yafu smiled and said, "This is not easy. Back then, the emperor had the idea of ​​restricting the sons of the three dukes and nine ministers from ascending to high positions, but later the restrictions were too great, so he gave up. But your uncle has already served as prime minister for two terms. If you don't establish unparalleled achievements, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to rule the world."

The political atmosphere of the Han Dynasty was still good. Xu Fan would make it clear to the top leaders of the Han Dynasty what policies he wanted to implement. There was no such thing as vague riddles or talking about the art of ruling.

So everyone knows that the emperor will restrict the children of princes and officials from becoming one of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers again. Once one of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers comes out, it will be ten times more difficult for the descendants to ascend to this high position again than for others.

Li Ji said: "Everything depends on human effort!"

Then he looked at Fan Kang and asked, "What do you think?"

Fan Kang said: "Back then, I even gave up the position of prince to my younger brother. What do you think of me? My biggest wish is to stay in Chang'an City."

At this time, their troops had entered Chang'an City and the people began to cheer.

Zhou Yafu looked ahead and smiled as he ordered: "All soldiers, cheer up and let the people of Chang'an see the spirit of our allies. Everyone must obey my orders, march in step!"

The sound of "pa pa pa!" goose-stepping sounded, and the Allied soldiers marched in square formations to welcome the cheers of the people of Chang'an.

When Zhou Yafu and his men were halfway there, the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty, led by Prime Minister Chen Lei, appeared in front of the army.

Zhou Yafu was surprised and said, "Prime Minister!" and wanted to dismount.

But Chen Lei smiled and said, "You are a son of a general, so you should understand the traditions of our Han Dynasty. The parade of horses is not only an honor for you, but also an honor for me and others."

After saying that, Chen Lei took the reins of Zhou Yafu's warhorse.

The fake prime minister Dian Qingye smiled and held the reins of Li Ji's warhorse and said, "When the emperor reviewed the troops at Pinglu Fort, I was just a minor official in Luoyang and did not attend. I have always regretted it. Today, my wish has been fulfilled. You sons of generals are no less than the founding generation."

Fake Fang Hao smiled and said, "Just accept this honor calmly. This is an honor that only comes once every few decades. I am also benefiting from your kindness."

When the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty and the military generals led the war horses of these meritorious officials, the people of Chang'an City finally realized and said, "This is a parade of horses. The three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty led horses. This scale has only appeared in the Battle of Mobei."

Some elderly people sighed: "We fought against the Huns back then, and we are fighting against the Huns now. It's like a reincarnation."

Xu Aimin sat in the imperial sedan chair, looking at the elite soldiers in the distance and said with a smile: "Even if our Han soldiers have not fought for 20 years, they are still the strongest warriors in the world."

"Pijiang, Chen Mai, you will be the left and right sides of my chariot, and Jia Qing, you will be the coachman. Together, we, the king and his subjects, will welcome the victorious army!" said Xu Aimin.

Back then, his father led Ying Bu and other heroes to review the army after the Battle of Mobei. It was said that the occasion was unprecedented. Xu Aimin had always been extremely envious. Now he has been emperor for nearly twenty years, and finally he has got the chance to review the victorious army.

Zhang Pijiang, Chen Mai, and Jia Yi said excitedly: "Yes!"

It was an honor for them to follow the emperor in inspecting the victorious army.

"Ride!" Driven by Jia Yi, four white war horses moved forward slowly.

The emperor's carriage slowly appeared in front of the parade.

"Hello, soldiers!" Xu Aimin shouted.

The patrol team immediately cheered: "Long live the emperor!"

"Thank you for your hard work, soldiers!"

"Long live the emperor!" the inspection team cheered again.

(End of this chapter)