Chapter 40: The Military Examinations

On the very first day of the annual festival, the entire city radiated an extraordinary atmosphere of bustling excitement.

Thousands of commoners had laid down the work in their hands, coming together to the festival to vent the emotions that had been suppressed in their hearts for over a decade.

As Fang Han walked down the main street, many citizens recognized him as the Protector-General. One after another, they expressed their heartfelt gratitude for all that he had done.

"It's Lord Protector-General!"

"Lord Protector-General, Lord Protector-General, we are so grateful to you!"

"Indeed, Lord Protector-General. Ever since you came to the Southern Frontier, we've finally had enough to eat."

"I now have two acres of land, all bestowed upon us by Lord Protector-General."

...

Countless townspeople surrounded Fang Han tightly, eagerly telling him about everything they now possessed.

Fang Han raised his hand, gesturing for everyone to quiet down.

Then he spoke, "Everyone, every single policy I have implemented was discussed and decided upon by all the esteemed officials."

In order to keep a low profile, he had no choice but to attribute the root of all these accomplishments to those officials.

However, how could the ordinary people possibly care about officials and policies?

They only knew that it was the Protector-General who had allowed them to eat their fill and till the soil.

Furthermore, the Protector-General had provided them with houses to live in and organized this grand annual festival.

Without the Protector-General, they would not have the lives they had today.

A profound sense of emotion stirred within Fang Han. How utterly simple and sincere the people of this world were!

While it was true that he had given them a good life, everything they had was ultimately earned through the labor of their own hands.

If not for their daily efforts in reclaiming wasteland, there would be no thousands of acres of terraced fields today.

If not for their daily fetching and pouring of water, the crops could never have grown as lush and thriving as they were now.

Let alone raising fish in the paddy fields—that would have been completely out of the question.

After the crowd dispersed, Fang Han arrived at the prefectural government office.

A gathering of officials was already waiting there, along with the city garrison troops under their command.

In addition, Fang Da and the others were prominently among their ranks.

They had all received invitations to participate in the formulation of the examination questions.

Never had these rough, martial men imagined that one day they would receive such a distinction.

All the military generals were filled with excitement.

By the time Fang Han arrived, the officials had already put forward several questions, waiting only for him to join them in discussion.

Fang Han also wanted to see if there were any suitable military talents among the scholars. In the future, once provisions and grain were abundant, going to war would be inevitable.

Having one more capable general meant increasing their chances of victory by another fraction.

"How are your discussions coming along?" Fang Han asked.

***

Su Zihuan stepped forward and said, "My lord, we have drafted several examination questions. Please take a look."

With that, he produced the finalized questions.

Fang Han took the paper and looked it over. There were five questions in total.

All of them were formulated in response to the invasions of the Southern Barbarians and the internal chaos within the Great Liang Kingdom.

One of the questions addressed how to guide the suffering people of the Great Liang Kingdom into the Southern Frontier.

This question was difficult if one considered it hard, but not impossible if considered otherwise.

It essentially boiled down to two choices: either attack the Southern Barbarians or negotiate terms with them.

As for attacking the Southern Barbarians, the Southern Frontier's current military strength was insufficient for such an endeavor.

Negotiating terms with them, however, would be akin to quenching thirst with poisoned wine.

The Southern Barbarians would certainly never let the Southern Frontier achieve its desires in the face of such a favorable opportunity.

Both paths and their respective outcomes were laid out here; it was merely a matter of choosing one.

If used as an examination question, candidates merely needed to provide these two answers.

However, translating these two concepts into actual reality was far more difficult.

In addition, another question concerned the problem of banditry within the borders of the Southern Frontier.

Although the prefectural capital had been stabilized for the time being, there were still numerous bandit factions scattered across the Southern Frontier.

In particular, several groups of bandits possessed strength that was by no means inferior to the separatist warlords.

How to eradicate these bandits was also a matter that must be considered for the future.

Fang Han fell into deep thought as he gazed at the examination questions in his hand. Every single one of these issues was thornier than the last.

The primary reason was that the development of the prefectural capital was currently too slow.

Grain was a secondary concern; the real issue was the lack of sufficient military manpower and weaponry.

This was a problem faced by all factions developing within the Southern Frontier.

If these issues could not be resolved, Fang Han would have no choice but to train an elite vanguard force himself and use advanced weaponry to seize the initiative.

"Have you all agreed upon the answers to the questions you drafted?" Fang Han asked.

The officials looked at one another in dismay.

None of them understood military strategy or warfare; how could they possibly provide answers?

If they could, there would have been no need for Fang Han and the various commanders to be summoned here.

"My lord, we are all scholars; what do we know of such matters? That is why we invited you here to deliberate together," an official replied.

Fang Han was well aware of this reality.

Yet, even without definitive answers, they still needed to provide a reference direction.

Otherwise, if the scholars answered and the examiners had to debate on the spot whether the answers were acceptable, it would look far too unprofessional.

"Fang Da, read the examination questions aloud so everyone can discuss them together. I refuse to believe these trivial matters can truly stump us."

***

Fang Da took the paper inscribed with the examination questions and read them aloud to the assembled military generals.

After listening, none of them had the slightest clue.

After all, most of them had joined the army simply to put food on the table, relying on brute strength to claw their way up to the position of commander.

If any true military genius existed among them, they would have long since carved out their own territory or unified the Southern Frontier.

Why would they even need a Protector-General? They might as well have declared themselves kings like the Southern Barbarians.

Suddenly, a man stepped forward and said, "My lord, I think that when testing martial generals, we should let all the commoners participate."

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at him.

Seeing the reactions of the crowd, the man suddenly realized his mistake.

The current examination was meant for scholars, with the objective of assessing their literary and strategic talents in military affairs.

It was not a formal military examination for the general populace.

He scratched his head awkwardly and said, "My lord, I spoke thoughtlessly."

At this moment, Fang Da stepped forward and proposed, "My lord, why not take advantage of the annual festival to hold a martial competition? It wouldn't need to be tied to the scholars' examinations."

As the commander of the city garrison, Fang Da was most familiar with the situation within the military. Among the new recruits enlisted during this period, there were quite a few promising seeds.

Some of them, after only a brief period of training, could perform on par with veteran soldiers who had been in the army for a long time.

The reason for this was quite simple: anyone who could survive in the Southern Frontier for more than a decade was far from ordinary.

Those with poor foundations would likely have starved to death long ago.

Fang Da had also started out as a recruit, and he knew all too well that if soldiers went too long without a chance to earn military merit, their morale would easily erode.

The martial tournament held during the current annual festival was partly intended to rouse the fighting spirit of the soldiers.

However, no one knew what would happen once the festival concluded.

Hearing Fang Da's words, Fang Han pondered deeply within his heart.

He had long wished to select talent through a martial examination.

One had to understand that certain people were born to be generals; even if they had never read a book, once on the battlefield, they would instantly know what needed to be done.

Right now, his subordinates were crying out for talent, and he wished he could gather as many such individuals as possible.

However, holding a martial examination involved stakes that were simply too high. Without the authorization of the imperial court, any region that dared to independently hold a martial examination to recruit talent would be committing an act of rebellion against the court—open treason.

Moreover, the forces within the Southern Frontier were currently intricate and complex, with the Southern Barbarians constantly poised to raid.

Even if they held the martial examination under the banner of the imperial court, neither the various regional factions nor the Southern Barbarians would ever agree to it.

Consequently, Fang Han had never dared to take this step, limiting even the annual festival to a martial tournament just to reward the soldiers.

Before Fang Han could reply, however, Su Zihuan quickly refuted Fang Da's suggestion.

"My lord, holding such examinations requires the permission of the imperial court. Right now, the Great Zhou has just been established, and the court is surely preparing its own martial examinations. It would be better to await official notice before discussing this further."