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Chapter 490: 243: Wuan Marquis Dies

In the afternoon, he would handle state affairs and sort out domestic politics.

Life was like this, with a regular and busy routine.

Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye several months passed, reaching the ninth year of Hongdao in March.

According to the plan, on the third day of this month, the imperial court would hold another Enke and recruit eight hundred scholars to fill the vacancies of officials in various places.

After nearly three months of preparation and publicity, the news of the imperial examination had reached every corner of every country and prefecture.

Scholars from Ninghai, Southsea, Dongting, Xiangyang, and Xichuan who wished to participate in the imperial examination and had their hearts set on Changsha were all flocking to Changsha City to prepare for this last Enke.

Yes, the last Enke.

Or more accurately, it might be the last Enke in nearly a decade.

Now that the Northern Expedition war has ended and the countries of Zhou, Yue, and Changsha have ceased their military operations, anyone with discernment can tell that for a long time to come, there is unlikely to be any outbreak of war on the borders of Yong, Qing, and Yang provinces.

Zhou and Yue countries have suffered losses in the successive wars and need to recover and regain their vitality.

Although the Liang country remains strong, it had early on anticipated this outcome after the peace negotiations between Zhou and Yue countries.

So after the end of the Northern Expedition, the two countries continuously exchanged messengers, and the emperors sent each other gifts from time to time to enhance their friendship.

The relationship between the two countries, which had originally cooled down due to the wars, began to rapidly warm up again.

In addition, both countries, without prior agreement, began to station their troops heavily along their borders with Liang.

On the side of Yue Country, Wucheng Marquis Shangguan Ming led 100,000 troops back to the northern border of Guangling County, restoring the normal scale of border troops there.

In response, the Liang people had to withdraw 100,000 troops from their 200,000-strong army in Jiangxia County and return them to the border of Pengcheng County, which was adjacent to Guangling County, to confront the Yue troops.

Marquis of Wuan Bai Mengyang led 30,000 troops and continued to be stationed in the three prefectures south of Xiangyang.

On one hand, he was organizing the local Zhou people and building up defenses for the imperial court in the three prefectures, fully integrating the land.

On the other hand, he was confronting the Liang people across the river in Jiangxia County.

Although 30,000 soldiers were a bit few, with the presence of Marquis Wuan, the Liang people on the other side still dared not be careless in the face of Bai Mengyang’s threat, despite having 100,000 troops.

The 100,000 Liang troops remained firmly stationed in Jiangxia County and did not dare to go elsewhere.

Using one person to constrain 100,000 soldiers, it shows the weight of Marquis Wuan’s reputation in the hearts of the people in various countries.

While Yue Country was taking action, Zhou Country in the north was not idle either.

The original 200,000 Zhou troops in Xiangyang, after handing over Xiangyang City to Lu Yuan, began to return north. Along the way, they released tens of thousands of civilian workers, allowing them to return to their hometowns and resume production.

Subsequently, the Zhou people stationed 50,000 troops in the three prefectures north of the Han River in Xiangyang County under their control, to guard against threats from Lu Yuan in the south or Liang in the east.

Afterwards, the remaining 100,000-strong army was led by Li Yanjing and stationed in Nanyang County, confronting the Liang troops in Huaiyang County.

In Henan County to the north, there was also a force of 100,000 Zhou soldiers assembled, threatening the two counties of He Nei and Yingchuan under Zhou rule.

Zhou and Yue countries cooperated tacitly, each stationing troops along their borders, and together they had nearly 400,000 elite soldiers.

Under such tremendous pressure, Liang Country couldn’t bear it any longer and ultimately abandoned their last thoughts of taking advantage during the chaos. They began withdrawing troops from Jiangxia, Pengcheng, Yingchuan, and Henan counties, leaving only the original scale of border guards in place.

Then they sent emissaries to Zhou and Yue countries, forming alliances with them and agreed to cease hostilities, restoring peace to the three provinces.

Thus, the war that began with Jinghai Country’s invasion and eventually turned into a chaotic battle involving three countries across twenty provinces spanning hundreds of thousands of miles, finally came to a close.

With the alliance between the three countries, if the three largest states in Yong, Qing, and Yang provinces stopped moving, the other smaller countries would not have the strength to act even if they wanted to.

That’s why it’s easy to see that a trend of long-lasting peace is upon us.

What about the previous Enke and imperial examinations in Changsha Country, which selected hundreds to thousands of people each time? What were they relying on?

They relied on the continuous chaos and the benefits of constantly annexing land.

Now that the chaos has subsided, the situation in various countries and regions has stabilized and is becoming more peaceful.

Under such a grand peace, it is no longer possible for Changsha Country to expand its territory further through war, as it did before.

Therefore, Changsha Country’s current territory of three prefectures and seventeen counties will likely remain for a long time, possibly for several decades.

In this case, there is naturally no need for a large-scale selection of officials.

From now on, an imperial examination will be held at the end of each year, selecting just a dozen or several dozen people to fill vacancies, and that will become the norm.

As such, those who miss this Enke and the last opportunity to quickly become an official will have to compete with tens of thousands of others for just a few dozen positions in the future.

The intensity of this kind of competition is incomparable to the current competition of tens of thousands of people for 800 positions.

Therefore, after understanding this, all those far-sighted scholars began to swarm toward Changsha City.