After that night, neither Chen Chong nor Pang Tong mentioned the rumor again, as if it had never happened. However, everyone in the mansion was still going about doing business as usual, working on papers after sunrise and returning home after dusk. No one said anything to Chen Chong. After all, everyone understands that after completing the application for citizenship in Hebei and the relocation of people from Huaibei, the country's internal affairs recuperation is coming to an end. The next thing the prime minister has to prepare is nothing more than the conquest of Jiangnan and Liaodong. This is a major matter of unification, and all other matters are insignificant compared to it.
However, the conquest was not as simple as talking on paper. Especially a major event like the Southern Expedition involving hundreds of thousands of troops required considerable mobilization in civil affairs, diplomacy, personnel and other aspects. Chen Chong calculated with the officials in the Prime Minister's Palace that the Wu people now have nearly 300,000 available troops, and 200,000 people are on the front line of the river, including about half of the navy. In the case where there is no obvious gap between the generals of the two sides, if you want to carry out the southern expedition without any loss, you will need to mobilize at least 300,000 soldiers. Particular attention must be paid to building a naval force. If you can defeat the Wu people in a water battle, Sun's The shogunate was vulnerable. But trying to do this is a bit difficult.
The current Han army's defense in the south is: 60,000 Xifu troops are gathered between the mountains from Baidi to Jiangzhou, 50,000 Nanfu troops are stationed in Fancheng, Suixian and other Miobei plains, 60,000 Dongfu troops are stationed with Wu troops Opposing Chaohu, we share Huainan. Compared with the plan to destroy Wu, there is at least a difference of 130,000 troops. Should we mobilize the Beifu Army? Considering that the situation in Yunbei has been deteriorating year after year, and the soldiers of the Beifu Army were not accustomed to the climate of Jiangnan, Chen Chong gave up the idea and decided to continue training and expanding the army. This means that the imperial court will nearly double its army within a few years. The generals in charge, training venues, and the cost of soldiers all need to be considered in the long term.
By mid-February, Pang Tong, Huan Jie and others drafted a draft to address these issues. Regarding troop training and recruitment, the article believes that 40,000 troops can be recruited in Yizhou and Qinzhou, 30,000 in Sizhou, and 40,000 in Yanzhou and Yuzhou. The troops from Yizhou were merged into Xifu, the troops from Qinzhou and Sizhou were merged into Nanfu, and the troops from Yanzhou and Henan were transferred to Dongfu and trained in Nan'an, Nanzheng and Shouchun respectively. The reason why these three places were chosen is because there are rivers passing through them. The army can cooperate with the local governors to use the water flow to dig out lakes and build ships. Only in this way can the effect of training boat masters be achieved. When everyone in the army is good at water skills and can sail freely on the river, the time will naturally be ripe for the southern expedition.
There is also a serious shortage of soldiers, armor and horses needed to expand the army. After rough statistics, the imperial court estimated that it would prepare 9,000 iron armors, 60,000 leather armors, 80,000 spears, 40,000 horned bows, 3 million arrow clusters, and about 200,000 war horses and pack horses. In addition, There are also baggage items such as horse armor, vehicles, flags, etc., which cannot be put together in a short time. Based on Chen Dao's experience in governing in Hebei, the draft suggested that Chen Chong set up three general managers of Chengdu, Luyang, and Ruyin to specifically supervise the military supplies of the three governments, directly under the Prime Minister's Office.
As for the final specific personnel arrangements, it was the prerogative of Prime Minister Chen Chong, and Pang Tong and others did not say much. After discussion, they only emphasized in the draft that in order not to affect the war with the Wu people, it was not appropriate to transfer a large number of officers from the front line when expanding the army, and it was recommended to find other candidates.
After Chen Chong read it, he generally approved the draft. The next thing to do is to correct the details. Three hundred thousand troops. Chen Chong looked at this number and was filled with emotion in his heart. The last time he used three hundred thousand troops was in the sixth year of Yanxing. It was an unforgettable turning point in Chen Chong's life. At this time, an impulse surged into his heart, which made Chen Chong suddenly want to go to the front line again, because he had not been on the battlefield for more than ten years, so that he felt that the memories of the past were like a dream, as if they had never happened. And his thoughts have also changed. In the past, he thought war was cruel, but now he feels that fighting and dying in blood and gold and iron is beautiful and memorable. Their lives are fixed at the moment when they are full of courage and vitality, and they will never be forgotten. Will become old and feeble.
But after the impulse passed, Chen Chong quickly erased the idea. He knew that his physical condition was such that he could no longer ride a fast horse and was no longer suitable to be an army commander. But speaking of it, Chen Chong remembered Yide's complaints about him the last time he went to Jinyang. He said that he had never led an army of more than tens of thousands. Now it seemed that it was time to use him. Chen Chong immediately wrote a letter to Zhang Fei, asking him to hand over the affairs at hand to Wang Gai and come to Luoyang immediately to discuss troop training matters.
As for the remaining officer candidates, Chen Chong plans to transfer Chen Dao, Deng Ai, Wang Ji and others first, and select the remaining vacancies from the Prime Minister's Palace. After all, officials in the Prime Minister's Office such as Pang Tong, Deng Zhi, Shangguan Sheng, and Li Yi all had military experience. In addition, they had been in charge of documents in the Prime Minister's Office for several years and were familiar with various common affairs. It was actually very useful for them to conduct military training. suitable. Chen Chong asked them for their opinions, and they all agreed. However, Pang Tong asked again: "When we go to the army, who will come to the house to help the teacher?"
This is indeed a problem, but Chen Chong also thought about how to deal with it. He said to Pang Tong: "I plan to promote some officials from the Imperial Academy. You will be a little tired and will take them for a while. When they are on the right track, you can It’s not too late to join the army.”
This was not only a response to the expansion of the army, but also an attempt by Chen Chong to resolve the dispute between the Imperial College and the Imperial Academy. In the past two years, the disputes in Taixue have become more and more intense, and the two factions are almost at odds with each other. Chen Chong said he didn't care, but he was still concerned in his heart. He planned to take advantage of this good opportunity to select people to replace officials and conduct a strategic test in Taixue. The competition for talent will be judged through the results of the planned examination.
By late February, the Prime Minister's Office officially announced the matter in Taixue. The notice said that the Prime Minister's Office will hold a strategic examination in late March. The content will be mainly divided into laws, classics and articles, and will be personally reviewed by Pang Tong and others. Once he passes the examination, he can be appointed as a Lang Guan and work in the Prime Minister's Office. . After the news came out, the Imperial Scholars were in an uproar. The Prime Minister's Mansion was the de facto decision-making center of the imperial court. Once you entered, it would be like stepping into a dragon's gate and you would be able to enjoy wealth and honor in a few years. Therefore, in less than half a month, everyone in the Imperial Academy planned to participate. In comparison, the Prime Minister's Office only planned to hire fifty people.
On the day of the examination, there were 5,000 candidates who came to take part in the examination. To ensure fairness, Chen Chong personally sat in the Imperial College and asked the questions in public, and adopted systems such as anonymity, inspections, and partitions. The examination was carried out from Chen hour to You hour. When all the students left and all the examination papers were collected, the sky was completely dark. After reviewing for two days and nights, Pang Tong and others handed the two hundred top-notch examination papers to Chen Chong and asked him to determine the final candidates for the fifty candidates.
Chen Chong took a cursory glance at some of the test papers and found that both the law and the classics were pretty good, but there was a very obvious difference in the article. Chen Chong's topic this time is "On Learning", but most of the articles are far from the topic, either expressing feelings about the mountains and rivers, or praising nature. The writing is gorgeous, and the parallel sentences are exquisitely crafted. It's too empty, as if it's about to enter the Tao and become immortal. As for the remaining articles, although they are meaningful and focused on practical results, they are obviously not accumulated enough and most of the words lack polish. Chen Chong thought about it privately, except for three or four articles that took both internal and external considerations into consideration, whichever style he preferred would be difficult to convince the public. However, talent must be the first priority when selecting scholars. Officialdom is not a place for discussing mysteries. If you cannot serve the country, writing is Even Zhuang Zhou is useless.
On the day when the list was announced, there were so many students surrounding the list that they were like fallen leaves in the mountains, with no end in sight. Although this test was about selecting one from a hundred, most people still had the luck to win. However, the results shocked them: the winners were basically children from poor families, and apart from them, only seven nobles were selected. This made the noble disciples extremely angry. Although the two groups of people in the Imperial College often argued, in fact, these young men who grew up in fine clothes and fine food did not take anyone seriously. As a result, today, the common people who came out of the pig pen were actually allowed to climb on their heads, which made them furious. For example, Donghai Miwei was extremely dissatisfied. He trampled a poor man on the list to the ground on the spot, slashed his hand with a sword, and scolded him with his back straight: "Pig shepherd boy, can you still hold a pen and write?" In addition, Some people even booed and cheered for him.
Later, some people gathered in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion to cause trouble. They made noises in the street about the Prime Minister's injustice and suppressed the Qing Dynasty. Then many people with good intentions came to watch, and the Prime Minister's Mansion was immediately surrounded. Some old people of the same age as Chen Chong said that this was a common scene in Luoyang when Emperor Xiaoling was in power, but unexpectedly they saw it again today.
When things got to this point, Chen Chong's tolerance for some people reached its limit. He immediately summoned Wang Chang, the commander of Luoyang, and arrested all the troublemakers and those who hurt others. They were first imprisoned for a month, and then issued an edict on the matter. The text said: "Everyone who has the world is noble. A simple and loyal man is deeply sick of hypocritical and untruthful people, who destroy religion, disrupt governance, and ruin customs. The quality of literature in the world changes with religion. Since the war, the study of classics has been abolished, and later generations can't help but talk about interesting things. Dian Mo. How can it be that if the training is not consistent, the people who will be employed will not show their talents! The officials who have learned a lot of scriptures can be appointed as herdsmen, and those who are promoted to high positions in the doctoral examination will naturally be used urgently; those who are flashy and do not follow the Taoism. , let’s all quit!” So all the more than 600 high-ranking scholars involved in the case were sent back to their hometowns, and at the same time, they were instructed to county and township officials to ban them for four years and never hire them again!
The strictness and wide-reaching implications of this edict were beyond everyone's expectations, but Chen Chong had no intention of compromising. He was tired of dealing with people in such a roundabout way anymore. The right and wrong should be determined by the heart. He I just want to do more of what I need to do before I die. However, many old people who have lived through the four dynasties said that the Prime Minister's actions are inevitably reminiscent of the past under the Party's supervision. It is difficult to tell whether it is a blessing or a curse.
