The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 429: Re-sinicization of the Hexi Corridor
The system established by Richard was very unfriendly to officials, especially the secret memorial system, which was equivalent to encouraging civil and military officials to report on each other.

Don't think that those officials are all scholars and that after becoming gentry they will unite and fight for power with the imperial power. The gentry did not form a pan-conscious ethnic group.

On the contrary, the internal struggles among officials would be very fierce, especially under the group-prime minister system. The secret memorial system would also continue to split the civil service group, and the emperor would eventually serve as the referee.

At the same time, the emergence of the Inspectorate is equivalent to the Jinyiwei of the Zhou Dynasty, but its power is not as great as that of the Jinyiwei.

In short, with these systems of Richard, the Zhou Dynasty would be in dire straits. Of course, this kind of dire straits means that compared with the pre-Tang Dynasty, and compared with the Hongwu and Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty, it is already many times better.

In addition, Richard reformed the imperial examination system, so that some highly technical positions could only be held after passing the corresponding assessment.

For example, the Ministry of Works was responsible for the construction of various projects for the imperial court. It had to be presided over by highly professional officials. Officials who had only studied the Four Books and Five Classics could never hold this position.

These official requirements are not unspoken rules, but have been established as a system. If you want to rely on the Four Books and Five Classics to become an official, you can only serve in the Ministry of Rites. However, the power of the Ministry of Rites has been restricted by Richard.

The Ministry of Rites only had control over matters such as annual sacrifices, the emperor's wedding, his death, and tributes from foreign nations. Even the imperial examinations were not decided by them but were prepared by the Council of State.

In order to stabilize the court system, in addition to political stability, the emperor also needs to persist. And it requires the persistence of several consecutive emperors.

So Richard was very concerned about Guo Rong's health and the health of his successor.

When Richard was discussing Taoism with Lu Dongbin, he learned several Taoist guiding techniques from him, and after combining them with his breathing methods, he reorganized and perfected several different guiding techniques.

The first is to lower the qualifications, making it easier for people to practice. As long as they persevere, they will eventually succeed. However, the upper limit of this kind of guidance technique is lower.

The second type is to enhance physical fitness, which is suitable for people with good qualifications. To the end of the practice, one can break the limits of the human body and reach or even surpass the level of powerful people like Xiang Yu and Li Cunxiao.

The third type of guidance law is mainly to increase lifespan, immunity, and intelligence. After Richard's systematic calculation, this guidance technique can allow people to live to about 1 years old at most, and intelligence is calculated according to the attributes of the Motera world, which can be increased by 2-14 points, and the maximum is no more than points.

Richard taught all three types of Daoyin techniques to Guo Rong. Guo Rong's final choice was not unexpected, and he chose to practice the third type of Daoyin technique. As long as everything was normal and he had no illness or disaster, he could live at least 80 or 90 years old. If he was in good health, he could even live to be 100 years old.

As for the remaining two guiding techniques, Guo Rong did not waste them. Instead, he selected orphans and trained them personally.

After decades of war, the country was in decline, leaving many orphans behind. Guo Rong specially sent people to bring the orphans back and adopted them personally. He taught these orphans to read and write, martial arts, and loyalty since they were young. When they were eleven or twelve years old, he began to teach these children the Daoyin technique.

The vast majority of these people learn the first type of guiding technique, and only a very small number of gifted people are taught the second type of guiding technique. The third type of guiding technique is also taught to very few people.

Guo Rong is already cultivating the foundation of the royal family. Some of these people will serve as royal guards, others will serve as generals, and as for those intelligent people who have practiced the third kind of guiding technique, they will serve as think tanks or internal ministers of the royal family.

Guo Rong even organized a royal caravan. In the future, the royal family no longer needed to receive tributes from all over the country, but would use royal merchants to purchase. At the same time, the royal family also organized a caravan, and its income would be added to the Shaofu. Of course, Guo Rong also set an example by asking the royal merchants to pay taxes on their own initiative.

In addition to making money, the caravans would also collect intelligence from various places for the royal family and understand the living conditions of the people in each place.

Richard checked Guo Rong's body. After learning the guiding technique, all the hidden injuries on his body left by the battles had disappeared. His body recovered and he was full of energy.

The Zhou Kingdom will not change for at least the next thirty to fifty years. If the imperial court can remain stable for a long time, these systems will stabilize.

"We know that 500 people are transporting 5,000 dan of grain and fodder. The team walks 60 miles a day and needs 4 dan of grain a day. How far can this team go at most?"

"It is known that a piece of land is a square field, which is 127 feet long and 33 feet wide. How many acres is this square field?"

"It is known that the front line is short of 100,000 grains and fodders. Specifically, the nearest granary is 500 miles away. Please calculate how to transport these grains and fodders to the front line safely and with minimal loss within 30 days of the defeat?"

On March 20, the first imperial examination after Richard's reform of the imperial examination began in Kaifeng City. This time the examination was divided into ten subjects: Mingjing (Four Books and Five Classics), Criminal Law, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics, and Natural Science.

The examination lasts for five days, and the imperial examination does not require candidates to take all subjects. However, they must carefully choose the subjects they apply for, because if they apply for the wrong subject, they can only wait until the next time if they want to change it.

Moreover, the subjects they take exams on also have a great bearing on their future. If they continue to study the Four Books and Five Classics, they will basically end up working in the Ministry of Rites until they die.

According to the imperial court system, the imperial examination was held every three years, with about 100 people admitted each time. After completing the provincial examination, the next step was the palace examination, which could only be taken by those who passed the provincial examination.

Moreover, candidates for the palace examination will not be dismissed normally, but will be divided into first, second and third place.

Richard and Guo Rong attached great importance to this first imperial examination. Not only did they personally send people to supervise it, but Guo Rong also served as the chief examiner, and the scholars of this session were also called the emperor's disciples.

At the same time, after Richard's reform, the imperial examination became more standardized. Because a lot of natural sciences, mathematics, criminal law, etc. were added, the answers to the imperial examination were also fixed. There would be no so-called eight-part essay templates.

After all, subjects like mathematics are not like the Four Books and Five Classics, which have no fixed answers. Here, right is right and wrong is wrong.

A few days later, with the end of the palace examination, the first imperial examination after the Zhou Dynasty reform finally came to an end. Although the reform was rushed, it still produced a lot of talents.

After passing the examination, these scholars would first go to the Administrative Council to learn government affairs for one or two years, and then be transferred to the local areas. The system of the Zhou Dynasty was that officials who passed the imperial examinations had to start from the local areas. If they wanted to enter the Administrative Hall, they had to have experience in managing local areas.

Guo Rong believed that prime ministers came from prefectures and counties, and brave generals came from the ranks.

Therefore, if one wants to enter the Council of State and become prime minister, one must go down to the prefectures and counties.

After the reform of the imperial examination system, a large number of subjects were added, but Richard was not worried that the difficulty of the imperial examination would increase and the number of candidates would decrease. Since ancient times, there have been many people willing to participate in the imperial examination.

Historically, the imperial examination system lasted for more than a thousand years, from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination had completely changed.

After a large number of scholars had finished studying the Four Books and Five Classics as well as the annotations of great scholars, they were almost exhausted, and almost all the examination questions had been released.

At this time, in order to set questions for the imperial examination, the examiners came up with the so-called "collected sentences" test method and "interpretation questions". This means that the questions are given two words that are not the same as the upper and lower words, and the examinees are required to answer the true meaning of Confucianism. For example, for the sentence "It is not a pleasure to learn and practice it from time to time!", the question should be answered with "之不" as the title, and the examinees are required to answer the true meaning of Confucianism according to this word.

This kind of imperial examination is no longer about selecting talents for the country. It is purely to eliminate more people and to set questions just for the sake of setting questions. There is no logic at all.

After seeing the successful implementation of the imperial examination system, Richard began to establish the Royal Academy of Sciences, which was responsible for researching various cutting-edge knowledge, and the scholars in it would also be awarded titles.

Since Richard has come to this world, he naturally wants to leave something for this world.

He knew very well that those extraordinary powers would eventually disappear and hide in the mundane world, and technology was the ultimate future.

Naturally, Guo Rong will focus on the development of science and technology.

Hexi Corridor.

As the imperial court marched west, news about Hexi was also sent over. At this time, Buddhism in Hexi had begun to decline, while the Arab religion on the other side began to rise. In fact, almost all of Central Asia had already believed in Arab religion at this time, and Buddhism, Nestorianism, and Zoroastrianism had already begun to show their presence.

The Zhou army's westward expedition appeared and re-entered Hexi, bringing hope to the people here. In particular, the continuous influx of materials and people from the Central Plains began to rebuild Hexi.

Hexi was also a populous area in the Tang Dynasty. For example, Liangzhou was governed by Guzang, which had four counties under its jurisdiction: Shenniao, Tianbao, Changsong, and Jialin. In Guzang alone, there were 500,000 mu of fertile land. At the same time, Liangzhou was a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral area. In its heyday, there were 300,000 cattle and sheep and tens of thousands of people.

Although the other four counties are not as good as Guzang, they also have 200,000 to 300,000 fertile fields and more than 100,000 herds of livestock. Liangzhou alone can easily support a population of 500,000.

During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, Liangzhou was the garrison of the Hexi Jiedushi, with more than 70,000 soldiers and 20,000 war horses, and was an important force in defending against the Turks and Khitans. However, after the Zhou Dynasty conquered Liangzhou, the population of Liangzhou was only 300,000, and the original more than one million acres of fertile land was only 400,000 acres.

Why did the amount of arable land decrease so greatly? On the one hand, it was because the Uighurs were not good at farming and turned farmland into grassland. On the other hand, it was because the Uighurs were not good at repairing water conservancy projects, and various water conservancy projects left over from the Former Tang Dynasty were basically damaged.

The irrigation system has been damaged, so the area of ​​farmland here is decreasing.

In addition to these problems, there is also the problem of climate change, but Liangzhou is not bad. After occupying Liangzhou, the Great Zhou court began to repair water conservancy and ordered that the trunks of trees should not be cut down, and only branches could be cut down for firewood.

At the same time, the imperial court began to promote the use of coal briquettes.

After Li Chongjin and Han Tong wiped out the Uighurs, the imperial court sent officials here to re-establish the five counties of Liangzhou and adopt a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural model.

Because of the importance of the Hexi Corridor, the imperial court planned to set up sixteen Zhechoufu with 16,000 soldiers in the Hexi Corridor.

At this time, most of the military supplies for the army's western expedition were still transported from the rear. The journey to the west was long, and the court took a long time to prepare enough food and fodder.

The convoy stopped outside Guzang City. Since it was escorted by the army, the convoy stopped directly at the military station.

At this time, Liangzhou City had regained some prosperity. There was already a horse market in the north of the city, and nearby herdsmen would come to trade.

Now it is spring, and few people sell livestock. They mainly sell various dairy products and furs in exchange for some food. Having just passed the winter, many herders have little food left. In addition to food, tea and salt are very popular here.

Seeing an army coming, these herders were not afraid, and they brought dairy products, furs, and medicinal herbs to sell. These herders had been forced to register as ordinary citizens, and even their clothing, hairstyles, and customs began to become Chinese.

Richard did not impose any mandatory requirements on these herdsmen, but he asked local officials to formulate many regulations, such as speaking Chinese, wearing Chinese clothing, and receiving some preferential treatment when coming to trade.

For example, they can enter the market in advance and collect less tax. Although the discount is not high, it is enough for the impoverished herders to spontaneously integrate into the Han nationality.

The officer ordered the soldiers to stop the herdsmen, but did not drive them away. Instead, they let them trade on the periphery. After all, the army would also purchase some supplies as supplements.

Some royal merchants who came with the army came to greet them.

"What kind of leather is this?" Guo Jue stopped in front of a herdsman.

The herdsman could not be identified as being from that tribe, because he wore Chinese clothes, had a Chinese hairstyle, and even spoke Chinese, but with a heavy accent. This surprised him, as he had not expected that the promotion of Chinese culture here was so successful.

"Snow Wolf. This wolf had just survived the winter and must have become evil. It ran into the sheepfold at night and got stuck on the fence. I beat it to death with a stick."

"how much is it?"

The herdsman's eyes sparkled, and he shouted loudly, "Two strings of cash!"

As if he was worried about scaring people away, he said, "There are no wounds on this wolf skin. It is definitely top-quality skin. Look, this fur feels so comfortable."

Guo Jue was surprised to hear such a cheap price. He immediately checked the fur carefully and confirmed that there was no damage to the fur. He said, "Although the fur is good, two strings of cash is still a bit expensive."

After some conversation and bargaining, he finally bought the leather for one string and nine hundred coins.

Guo Jue did not forget his mission. He put away the leather and asked casually, "Which tribe are you from?"

The herdsman laughed and said, "What tribes are there now? We belong to Shihezi Township. Herdsmen are organized into baojia according to the number of households. The previous heads were killed by the government, and the pastures left behind were divided among us. My family also got a share, with two horses and more than a dozen sheep, and five acres of land."

"The government also said that the first three years will be tax-free, and taxes will only start to be paid next year. The tax is not high, just two sheep per household."

ps: I am too tired today, so I will only update once.

(End of this chapter)