Tibet

The war finally ended before dawn. The Tubo army fought to the death until the last man died. Although their spirit was commendable, it also brought huge losses to the Tang army. More than 3,000 Tang soldiers were killed or wounded, including more than 2,000 killed in battle.

All 10,000 Tubo soldiers were killed, including the main general Ma Chongying, who was blown into several pieces. In the end, the soldiers found his head.

Firearms played a great role in this battle. More than half of the Tubo soldiers were almost killed by explosions or hit by poisoned iron balls.

The Tang army spent a whole day cleaning the battlefield, burning the bodies, and putting the ashes of the dead Tang soldiers into urns to take 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, but the area was not small, about the same 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 and looked into the distance. He saw many dots around him. They should be locals. Daboluo is indeed a rare place suitable for living. The land on both sides of the Shiquan River is very fertile. There are large forests in the distance and sufficient sunshine.

At this time, a team of soldiers came to Boluo City with several locals. The soldiers took them up to the city and came to Xi Wanli.

The old men did not look like Tibetans, but 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 people of Xiaoboluo. They were originally a 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, and several elders stood up tremblingly. Xi Wanli pointed to the wheat field in the distance and said: "Is that wheat field yours?"

Several old men shook their heads, "That is the wheat field of the Tibetans, our wheat field is farther away."

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

Several old men smiled and explained: "There are no Tibetan civilians, the Tibetans we are talking about are the Tibetan army."

So that's it, Xi Wanli nodded and said: "I know these were originally your lands, and they were occupied by the Tibetans, so I asked you to come here, and I plan to return some of the land to you."

Several old men were surprised and happy, and they knelt down to thank them.

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

Several old men hurriedly said, "We will definitely 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 station in Dabolü for one year. A new army will replace them tomorrow.

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

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

That morning, a fierce alarm bell suddenly sounded on the high tower, "Dong-Dong-Dong-"

The bell sounded throughout the seaport, and the soldiers in the barracks ran out and ran towards 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 found in the north, and their origins are unknown. They are heading to our harbor!"

Jiao Yuanli was stunned. How could there be large ships coming from the north? This has never happened before!

He immediately ordered General Guo Qingyun, "General Guo, you immediately lead ten speedboats to investigate!"

"Yes!"

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

The three 10,000-stone ships were the ones of Yang Liangyao and his party who had gone through countless hardships to return to the Tang Dynasty. There were only three large ships left. A month ago, the last steam engine was turned off, and they could only rely on pedal paddles. In today's Central America, they encountered wind and waves. When 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 bear the hardship of sailing thousands of miles, so he died a month ago.

At this time, everyone's will reached the limit. If they did not return to the Tang Dynasty, many people would go crazy.

Suddenly a soldier pointed to the front and shouted: "There is a ship in front, it is the battle flag of the Tang Dynasty!"

Everyone saw clearly that ten 500-stone fast ships were coming towards them, and the warships were flying the red-bottomed black dragon flag of the Tang army. Everyone on the three large ships cheered.

Even Yang Liangyao couldn't help but burst into tears, and finally returned to the Tang Dynasty.

The three 10,000-stone large ships began to slowly dock. Jiao Yuanli learned that they were actually ordered to go out to sea for tens of thousands of miles to explore and return to the Tang army, and he couldn't help but respect them.

Two thousand Tang soldiers lined up to welcome the return of the expedition team. Jiao Yuanli 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 people couldn't 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 there are not many things, you can go by land, ride horses to Chang'an, and keep changing horses. You can reach Chang'an in one month at the fastest. If you go by water, it will take at least two months!"

Yang Liangyao thought for a while and said: "You can go by land and water at the same time, take some away by horse, and take the rest by water!"

Jiao Yuanli immediately divided his troops into two groups, sending a hundred soldiers to escort Jiao Yuanli by land, and at the same time arranged three warships to go by water to transport a large amount of important materials 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 in Longyuan County.

Time gradually came to May, and an examination related to thousands of households was being carried out in Guanzhong and Luoyang.

This was the beginning of the local official administration reform. The officials mainly included two clerks in criminal law and household administration, as well as school officials, criminal arrests and six departments, and six county school assistants, a total of sixteen people, but this exam did not include county school assistants.

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

The test site in Guanzhong is in Chang'an. About a thousand candidates from nearly a hundred counties in Guanzhong gathered in Chang'an. These candidates are of different ages, some are over 40 years old, and some are only in their twenties.

Although there are not many people, the whole Chang'an has become lively because of their arrival. The streets and alleys of Chang'an, and even the court rooms are talking about this exam.

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

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

The court mainly gave subsidies, 300 coins per person per day, including 200 coins for accommodation and 100 coins for meals.

The upper 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, it will definitely not be enough, so you have to pay for it yourself.

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

Wang Han picked up the 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 waste your time, you can basically pass it. It will test what you do in your daily life, and the various documents that you are tired of doing in your daily life. Of course, it will be in the form of cases. Give you a small thing and see how you deal with it."

Everyone laughed and said, "As long as you don't test various scriptures!"

Captain Ma Hui asked, "Then what do we test as captains?"