The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 794 Reward
Luoyang, inside the Taiji Hall.

"Lord Xiahou is already very old. From now on, you must help him more and take over his duties. The training of the central army cannot be interrupted. Although there are no external enemies around now, the central army cannot lose its edge!"

Cao Mao said this to Luo Xian who was sitting next to him.

Luo Xian just felt that it was a little outrageous, and his expression was extremely complicated.

He was almost becoming the leader of the central army in Wei.

If he keeps messing around, he might end up taking control of the entire Central Army!
At this moment, Luo Xian couldn't even remember why he came to Luoyang in the first place. What was the reason for him to come to Luoyang in the first place?
Cao Mao said seriously, "You must do your best in all matters concerning the Central Army!"

"only!!"

Luo Xian answered very firmly.

Cao Mao made some reductions in the armies in various places, retaining the elite and sending the rest of the military households back home. The harm of the hereditary military system was clearly evident, and the central army was reduced from the original exaggerated size of 200,000 elite soldiers to about 100,000.

The central army during Cao Pi's time was roughly of this size. Later, because the Sima family was worried about the generals in various places, they began to frantically increase the number of troops and expand the size of the central army.

As a result, local forces also increased their numbers, causing the number of Wei's troops to reach an extremely exaggerated level.

Maintaining such a large army would be a huge burden on the national treasury and would be quite unnecessary.

The economy cannot be developed if there are too many standing armies.

As for why Luo Xian was able to continue to be promoted, even to such a core official position.

That's because of Luo Xian's background.

Luo Xian is not from the north.

In order to suppress the local powerful families, Cao Mao had no choice but to use more people from other places. The people from Shu and Wu had no roots in the north and could be promoted.

Moreover, both of them have already perished. I dare not say anything about Wu, but at least in Shu, Wei's rule has already laid a foundation. The people live better than before. There are no frequent wars. Most of them own arable land, no head tax, and live and work in peace and contentment... There are fewer and fewer rebels over there.

Even if a big family took the lead in rebellion, there would be almost no one to follow them.

When the good times are over, no one will miss the past.

Therefore, Cao Mao was more inclined to employ some people from Shu. There were quite a few people from Shu in the court, and there were also many prefects from Shu in the local areas.

These people are not in the same group as the northern clans, so Cao Mao can use them with confidence.

Xiahou Xian, the current commander of the central army, is already very old and can no longer wear armor to visit the army. Cao Mao now uses him as his right-hand man in the central army.

They are Li Zhao and Luo Xian respectively.

Li Zhao was Cao Mao's original captain of the guard and one of Cao Mao's absolute confidants. He fought in many battles over the years and made many contributions. He was promoted to general and awarded a title. The other one was Luo Xian.

In the future, Cao Mao might find another reliable member of the royal family to serve as the commander of the central army.

The reason Cao Mao went to see Luo Xian this time was because someone had recently reported that some people were trying their best to get into the central army and gild themselves. Cao Mao hoped that Luo Xian could intensify the training and not let these pests get close to the central army.

Luo Xian repeatedly assured that he would strictly supervise the training of the central army before leaving the Taiji Hall.

After he left, Zhang Hua walked in with the battle report from the Northwest.

"Your Majesty, this was sent by Malon."

What Ma Long reported was exactly the information about Shuji's ability to defeat the bandits, and Cao Mao was not surprised at all.

As the biggest bandit leader in history, it would be strange if Shuji couldn't defeat these people.

With the promotion of Ruan Ji and others, the second step of education has begun in various places.

Cao Mao's education was divided into three steps. The first step was to disperse them and allocate public land to accommodate them. The second step was to change their surname to Yifeng.

And the final third step is naturally to encourage intermarriage.

After completing these three steps, the northern ethnic groups will basically be gone. However, this is not a permanent solution. Take the previous Tuoba tribe as an example. After they were defeated, the various ethnic groups in the tribe fled. Some ran to the Dingling side. It is said that another battle for the frontier has begun.

Cao Mao felt that this might be the early appearance of the Rouran people.

In history, the Rouran tribe separated from the Tuoba tribe, which was in civil strife, more than 40 years later, and began to attack the Hu people in extremely remote areas, and then gradually occupied the entire grassland.

This time, Cao Mao accelerated the demise of the Tuoba tribe. The civil strife occurred earlier than in history. The separated tribes would continue to start the "chicken-eating mode" outside the Great Wall. The final winner would become a new force to fill the gap of no enemies outside the Great Wei.

Perhaps they will no longer be called Rouran, but this is also inevitable.

When the old power falls, the new power will take its place.

Cao Mao didn't care about these guys outside the Great Wall. What Cao Mao had to deal with now were these people within the country. As for the enemies outside the Great Wall in the future.

It doesn’t matter, Yang Hu will take action!

"Send it to the Ministry of War, and have them award rewards based on military merit."

"only."

Zhang Hua handed the battle report to his attendant and asked him to deliver it.

He stayed with Cao Mao.

"Your Majesty, the hostage from Funan has arrived in Luoyang for three days. I wonder when he will be received?" After Zhu Ying and others went to Funan, they sent the prince back.

The efficiency is quite high.

As for the Kingdom of Funan, Cao Mao still had many ideas.

He pondered for a moment and said, "How about this, you take him to the East Hall, and I will go there later."

Zhang Hua took the order and left.

Although Funan was a small country, its navigation technology was very good.

This group of people established their country very early. In the early days, it was a matriarchal society with many queens. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, they began to pay tribute to the Central Plains and now have transformed into a real country.

They had ended the tribal system internally and formed the early prototype of a centralized monarchy. Their kings could appoint officials to directly govern various places, but their officials were hereditary, so it could only be considered a prototype.

They have many records of exchanges with India and the Central Plains.

Especially compared with the Central Plains, Funan's national strength was relatively strong in Southeast Asia. After all, it was the earliest recorded ancient country in the area. However, the gap with the Central Plains was still very large. They could not build large ships like the Wu Kingdom, otherwise they would not have to bow down to the Wu Kingdom and send people to pay tribute and gifts.

Cao Mao hoped to establish contact with Tianzhu from the sea through their contacts with Tianzhu.

This Tianzhu does not refer to the Kushan Empire, but refers to the general Indian region. The one that had exchanges with the Funan Kingdom should be the late Baicheng Dynasty.

During the Three Kingdoms period, India also had two major countries in the north and south leading their smaller brothers in confrontation: the Kushan Empire in the north and the Baicheng Empire in the south.

But more than forty years ago, Baicheng was destroyed and dispersed into small countries, and chaos began in the south.

Cao Mao didn't know much about the situation there and could only learn about it through Funan.

As for his attitude towards Funan, Cao Mao still thought that it was a good port.
Of course, it would be best to have actual control, but based on the current internal system of Funan, if Wei forcibly sends officials to govern, it will definitely cause rebellion from both top and bottom.

Because the other side still maintained aristocratic hereditary officials, the Wei Dynasty sent people there to seize power from them.

Cao Mao ordered another person to come.

This person is naturally Lu Kang.

Lu Kang came directly to Xitang.

Before he could say a few more words, Cao Mao motioned for him to follow him and took him directly to the East Hall.

Although Lu Kang is steady, he is actually not very old. He is even younger than Zhong Hui!
The relationship between Cao Mao and him became increasingly close, and had progressed one step further from the traditional relationship between monarch and subject. The two were like good friends, and in private, Cao Mao even called Lu Kang by his name.

It is humiliating for ministers to call each other by their names.

However, it is normal for the emperor to call others by their names. However, there are two situations in which the emperor calls others by their names. The first is when he is extremely angry and calls them by their names in a scolding tone. The other is when he calls them by their names in a friendly and gentle manner, which can better demonstrate the closeness between the monarch and his subjects.

Lu Kang didn't know why the emperor suddenly summoned him, but seeing that Cao Mao didn't say anything, he didn't ask. He just followed Cao Mao, and the two of them walked into the East Hall one after the other.

"Your Majesty, your Majesty, please come and see me!"

Fan De is Fan Xun's son and his successor, but this heir is a little older.

He was much older than Lu Kang and Cao Mao.

Cao Mao smiled and said, "Please stand up."

Fan De has dark skin, short stature, but a shrewd look.

Under Cao Mao's gaze, a fake smile appeared naturally on his face.

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat and said to Fan De with a smile, "I heard that during the Later Han Dynasty, you also paid tribute to the emperor. If you are a country that knows etiquette, why did you pay tribute to the Eastern Wu?"

Fan De was stunned for a moment. The emperor looked smiling, but why did he sound like he was challenging him when he spoke?
He quickly explained: "It's because I've been away from the Central Plains for too long, and I don't know how to use the artifact."

Cao Mao nodded, agreeing with his statement.

He then asked, "Since the King of Funan has accepted the seal of the Great Wei, how many people should be sent to deliver the seal to him and establish his government?"

Fan De fell silent again.

Sending the seal is not the most important thing, what is important is to establish the government.

Establishing a government office is a reward and a privilege given to ministers. Establishing a government office means that one can form his own team and legally have his own ministers.

Therefore, in the abdication package, the first package is to set up a government first. If you don’t even have your own direct ministers, how can you usurp the throne?
Now Cao Mao said that he wanted to reward Fan Xun and establish a government for him, but the problem was that Fan Xun was already the local king, so did he need a government?

Cao Mao obviously used the excuse of establishing a government office to send people to serve as Fan Xun's staff and ministers in order to interfere in local affairs and strengthen his control over Funan.

It doesn’t even matter how many people are sent to establish the government, or whether to establish the government at all.

This also reveals the emperor's attitude.

Lu Kang narrowed his eyes, lowered his head and said nothing.

Fan De had already started to panic.

(End of this chapter)