Sima Xin's ability to demote to his current status is certainly due to Lu Zhe's political needs, but if Sima Xin does not have the corresponding ability, he will not be able to get to this point.

Lu Zhe can be regarded as a self-made man, not like an old family with a background, nor a big clan with many clan relatives, along the way, except for the first group of people who followed, the number of generals accepted later was amazing.

Among those who followed Lu Zhe from the beginning, Ji Bu, Gongwei, Xu Zhi, and Wei Han ...... And so on, some people's status in the empire is not low now, most of them are the lieutenant generals of a legion, and a few are general-level bigwigs.

There are many people who followed Lu Zhe's rise from Yiling to the first twenty or thirty thousand people, and became high-ranking generals in the empire, some of whom were originally just ordinary soldiers, as long as they could survive the battle all the way, more than ten years have passed, and the former soldier is now at least a military marquis.

"Although the war in Northwest Xinjiang went smoothly, more than 20,000 people were still killed in the whole war, and some had to retire due to injuries." There was not much heaviness in Sima Xin's tone, fighting has always been an extremely dangerous thing, and there is no absolute safety for senior generals to put on armor and go into battle, let alone the soldiers who directly participate in the battle? He also said: "The price paid by the Hu people is even higher, and after nearly three years of war, we have annihilated a total of 380,000 Hu people who can be checked!" ”

Annihilation is not a total kill, but rather the dismantling of an enemy's formed army, killing or capturing it on the battlefield, or driving the enemy's formed army so that it does not become a combat sequence.

To tell the truth, it is not possible to kill all the enemies in a single battle, after an army is dispersed, the soldiers flee without life is basically irregular, and the army will basically collapse when the casualties exceed 20%. The more resilient troops are able to bear 50% casualties, but such troops are rare. It must also be the elite of the elite, and the army that can really die to the last person in battle, in fact, not all soldiers really want to die in battle, there is no way to escape at all.

Touman led the army to invade the south more than two years ago, and the number of the first batch of grassland Hu people who invaded with Touman was about 300,000. Not all of these 300,000 Hu people came from the Xiongnu, but also from some tribes such as Hujie, Qu She, and Hun Yu. There are also some tribes that do not belong to the Xiongnu tribe, such as the Hun Evil Tribe, the White Sheep Tribe, the Kun Evil Tribe, the Xiu Tu Tribe, and so on.

In the first year, the Hu people invaded Zhao and Qin, losing 50,000 or 60,000 men, and then faced an opponent who was still called the Han army at that time, and after the opponent turned into a Han army, nearly 100,000 men were wiped out.

On the way to flee to the source of the Yellow River, the Hu people relied on invasion or coercion to increase their manpower, and before the arrival of the troops sent by Lü Zhe to fight in the past, the manpower under Touman's command had increased to more than 200,000.

During the standoff between the two armies, Touman attacked the plateau and other areas. Thirty or fifty thousand people were recruited or captured from the plateau, and nearly 100,000 people were obtained from the Western Regions, and at the highest number, the number of troops in Touman's hands alone even exceeded the maximum of 300,000, counting the part of Maudun until it was close to 500,000.

“…… So it's going to be so much, and it's not necessarily a good thing for us. The expression on Lu Zhe's face smiled.

Yes, the steppe Hu people have always been locusts, and there is no one who will not suffer from disasters wherever they pass, and they burn and loot along the way. Nearly half a million people have been amassed through violence, turning some areas into uninhabited wastelands. There are pros and cons to the Empire's next march to occupy land, but more than that, there are pros.

"The Huyan Department has led the army to join Maudun, and the combined number of the two troops is close to 160,000, we?" Sima Xin paused, a little hesitant: "Is our aid to Wusun going to speed up?" ”

"Touman has proven that the army is either outnumbered or strong. Maudun had nearly 160,000 men under his command, most of whom were coerced along the way. Lu Zhe did not give a direct answer.

There were slave soldiers these days. Many countries or power armies have a large number of slave soldiers, such as Touman's manpower once exceeded 400,000, but more than 200,000 of them belonged to slave soldiers.

Slave soldiers are the kind of people who are forced to become soldiers through capture, and their desire to fight~ hope has always been known for its sluggishness, and when the war is going well, it may be able to support the scene. Once encountering a disadvantage in the war, the army is defeated, and the imperial army can easily win in this northwest battle, on the one hand, the imperial army is really strong, and on the other hand, why not because the army in the hands of Touman has a huge slave army?

Sima Xin reminded: "Your Majesty, Maodun's methods of governing the army are different from those of Touman, and we must not relax our vigilance. ”

Lu Zhe just said "um", indicating that he knew it.

As a general, Sima Xin looks at the problem from a military point of view, but Lu Zhe sees it more than just a military measure.

That's right, there is a big difference between Maudun and Touman in governing the army. Slave soldiers will always be slaves under Touman, no matter how good a slave soldier is on the battlefield; However, the slave soldiers under Maudun can rely on their military exploits to gain status, and even become a high-ranking general under Maudun. This difference alone is that the slave soldiers under the two have a desire to fight~ hopefully, it will definitely be a heaven and an underground.

"Maudun let the slave soldiers kill more, kill as much as you can get out of the status of the slave soldiers, and kill as many slave soldiers as you can exchange for the freedom of your relatives." Lu Zhe did not mean to look down on Mao Dun at all, and in some respects he was even very vigilant against Mao Dun, which can be seen from the fact that some of the layouts of the war in Northwest Xinjiang have been aimed at Mao Dun. He was already able to see the square in front of Miyagi: "Maudun is a dangerous person, but Maudun will help us in the next layout in Usun. ”

A thoughtful expression appeared on Sima Xin's face, but his thoughts were soon interrupted, because Miyagi Guangchao was the first to cheer, and then the crowds on both sides of the road also cheered.

Passing through the White Tiger Gate in the west, I have been walking along the straight avenue for about thirty miles, and the road on both sides of the road is full of dense people, and then near Miyagi, not only are there people standing on both sides of the road, but even the windows and roofs of the buildings on both sides are also full of people.

The square in front of Miyagi is large enough to accommodate more than 100,000 people. At present, most of the area of the square is densely packed with people, and only some areas near the Miyagi castle tower are deliberately left. The vacant space left behind was used to house the triumphant troops and was also a necessary venue for some ceremonies.

The procession slowly entered the square, and the cheers were louder, almost deafening, as if everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs.

Because of the relationship between the relevant ceremonies to be held. The castle tower of Miyagi and the nearby section of the city wall seem to have been carefully arranged, the castle tower is covered with festive red, and the many flags erected are also fluttering in the wind, and the nearby section of the city wall also put down a lot of originally rolled cloth rolls when the triumphant troops entered the square, and when the cloth scrolls were unfolded, they could be found to be full of the numbers of some legions.

"Wu Wei! Mighty! Mighty! ”

Huge vertical flags appeared in the section of the city wall, and each flag was the number of the troops participating in the war in the northwest frontier. The moment the vertical flag was unfurled, the cheers on the scene suddenly skyrocketed, and then turned into a unified slogan.

It was in the sound of the slogan "mighty" that the royal chariot and many chariots ridden by civil and military officers entered the palace through the palace gate in the center of the royal city. The triumphant troops stood in groups and lined up in the vacated field of the square amid the sound of military orders.

The troops were lining up in the phalanx, and the fluency of teamwork was once again cheered, and a small number of people shouted "Imperial Army Wuwei!" Then more and more people followed the shout, and finally the unified slogan on the spot became a unanimous "Imperial Army Might!" ”。

There are different levels of official documents, some people are qualified to participate in the whole ceremony, and some people can only be spectators.

In fact, there is no particular target for any one party, and there are both civil and military personnel participating in the ceremony. The level is not enough, and those who can only be spectators are of course both civil and military.

In any era or regime, there are some differences in treatment due to different statuses, such as ordinary people can only stand in ordinary places and watch. There are some people who can be arranged to watch from a specially built viewing platform.

Some of the imperial officials set up some viewing platforms on the flat ground, and many of them were arranged in certain positions on the sections of the city walls.

The triumphant procession marched into the square, and under the cheers, on the viewing platform on the right side of the square, many civil officials were watching with full attention, but there was no shortage of people talking.

"It's really confusing. The army has certainly achieved great results, but without our baggage in the rear, they ......"

"Shhhh I can usually complain, but I should be a little more restrained on today's occasion. ”

"After the great chaos, there should be great governance, although the king also attaches importance to reconstruction. However, it has always shown that it attaches more importance to the military. That is not going to work, but we should look for an opportunity to counsel the king. ”

"Let's say a few words."

"Humph! It's just that some of you are too timid and afraid of things, so we haven't been given the attention we deserve. ”

"Heh, hehe......"

The civil officials of the empire are indeed inferior military attaches in terms of status or reputation, not only because of the strength and reputation of the military, but also because the attitude shown by Lu Zhe is obviously more inclined to the military.

It is not long after the end of the pre-Qin era in ancient times, and civil officials come from more than one school, but if you want to say which school has the most upward ambition, and is also the most fond of discussion, or exhorts the king to express his ideals or opinions at every turn, then it should be the Confucian school.

In fact, there are really many schools in the empire, especially Lu Zhe prefers the situation of a hundred schools of thought, some schools that have been about to disappear have received some support and regained their vitality, especially some schools have been instructed by Lu Zhe to get more resources to grow, and Confucianism is also a school that has received relatively more official resources for some reasons.

"It may be reasonable to pay attention to the military, but attaching importance to farmers is also related to the livelihood of the people in the world, after all, farmers are involved in food production and so on, which is really speechless. But! Wang Shang also paid too much attention to the craftsmen derived from the Mo family, the chemists derived from the Yin-Yang school, and some other old or emerging schools! ”

A man who looks like an old pedant looks a little excited? He began to talk about it because the crowd of onlookers called for the army, and when he said that, he began to count certain schools of thought that were also in the same camp as civilians.

"If you want to talk about me, we Confucianists shoulder the great responsibility of educating sentient beings, and we are the ones who should get more resources the most, why can some small families and small sects also get so many resources. If we were not there, they wouldn't even have the conditions to be literate, but many of those who learned to read from us actually grew up and joined other schools, which really annoyed me! ”

Originally, there were still some people who would talk to the old pedant, but the range of the old pedant's attack was getting wider and wider, and the people who could still talk to him were either swaying him or trying to stay away from the old pedant.

Yes, a considerable number of Confucian scholars were devoted to universal education in the empire, and at least six of the imperial teachers were from the Confucian school, and this was won by some high-ranking officials of the Confucian faction in the center.

Lu Zhe partly sold some face to those important ministers of the Confucian school, and the other part also agreed that Confucianism has some advantages in disseminating knowledge and education, and when each school was assessed to become a teacher, there were also more people admitted by Confucianism, so that at least six layers of teachers in the empire were born Confucians.

For this reason, Confucianism has developed rapidly in recent years, and usually new ideas will emerge from the rapid development, and they occupy the majority of the education field in the empire, but the Confucian scholars who are officials in the court are relatively rare compared to the part, which makes many Confucian scholars very indignant, such as this old pedant who is qualified to stay on the viewing platform to watch the ceremony is one of them. And the old scholar is one of the people with a relatively high status in the education field of a certain county, so he is also qualified to be arranged on the viewing platform.

The scene had gradually quieted down, and the old pedant's speech would be covered up in the cheers, and it would not be far from it, and once the cheers had stopped, it would be inappropriate for the old pedant to make those remarks, so someone advised: "Hurry up and rest." ”

The old scholar snorted coldly, his emotions were not so excited, but he still said: "For example, this triumphal ceremony, the princes are actually after the ministers, not in the same sequence as the king, this is the side of the reason, it is really against the principles of the monarch and the ministers." If I were a Confucian, how could this happen!? ”

The people around them, whether they were Confucian or not, could only deal with it with a wry smile, and they were not good at refuting what the old pedant said.

It has to be said that Confucianism has recently been carrying out internal reforms, and they have set their sights on strengthening their rulers in the hope of finding a way to seek political status. When it comes to the royal family, the people around him do not refute even if they see Confucianism as unpleasant, which makes some Confucians think that the direction of reform is correct. (To be continued......)