Transmigrating to the Three Kingdoms as Lu Bu: I Have a Pseudo-Apocalypse System

When the Yang family learned of Yang Qiu's murder, the clan leader Yang Song was furious. He gathered more than a hundred able-bodied men from the clan, armed themselves, stormed the prefect's mansion, beat drums to appeal for justice, and demanded that Yang Qiu get justice.

Cao Xing was prepared and ordered Ma Chao and Zhao Yun to lead cavalry to intercept them.

Ma Chao brandished his spear and shouted, "Your attack on the prefect's residence is tantamount to rebellion! Retreat immediately!"

Yang Song roared, "Lu Bu killed my clansmen without cause! This is an outrage against Heaven! We must be given an explanation today!"

More than a hundred members of the Yang clan, brandishing knives and clubs, stormed the prefect's residence, determined to demand an explanation.

Ma Chao's face turned cold, and he pointed his spear: "Release the arrows!"

A volley of arrows was fired, instantly felling more than twenty men. Yang Song was struck by an arrow and fell to the ground, while the rest scattered.

Ma Chao led his troops in pursuit, capturing all the members of the Yang clan who had participated in the disturbance. More than thirty were beheaded on the spot, and the rest were flogged fifty times and expelled from the prefecture.

The swift and decisive measures shocked the entire Anding County.

Seeing this, no other general in the other counties dared to openly disobey orders.

Cao Xing then announced: "From today onwards, all armies in Liangzhou will be paid according to the new system to ensure that soldiers have three full meals a day. Starting tomorrow, the entire army will change into new uniforms and wear rank insignia."

When the news spread, the soldiers cheered.

With a big stick in one hand and carrots in the other, military reforms were successfully implemented in Liangzhou.

On the 24th of September, his wife, Lady Yan, gave birth to a son, whom Lü Bu named Lü Zhao.

The Book of Songs says, "King Wen is above, shining brightly in the heavens." This metaphorically refers to the mandate of heaven and the universal radiance of virtue, expressing Lü Bu's expectations for his first son, the future heir apparent.

Amid the chaos of the reforms, the birth of Lü Bu's eldest son brought much peace of mind to his civil and military generals.

This was the reality in ancient times. If a lord had no heir, no one knew the meaning of following him. Once the lord had an heir, everyone felt much more at ease, as if they had found a pillar of support.

On the first day of the tenth month, all the counties and prefectures in Sili held their county-level examinations simultaneously.

This was the first trial of the imperial examination system, and the imperial court attached great importance to it. Jia Xu and Guo Jia personally inspected the examination venues in Chang'an, and the prefects and magistrates of various prefectures personally presided over the examinations.

The examination content included not only literacy and knowledge of classical Chinese texts, but also arithmetic and current affairs. All questions were objective, including multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank questions, with only one correct answer to avoid subjective scoring by the examiners. (This was the first imperial examination, and being experimental in nature, it was only a prefectural examination; therefore, the questions were simple and did not include essay questions.)

The examination hall in Chang'an was located at the Imperial Academy, which could accommodate a thousand people. Before dawn, candidates began to arrive one after another. There were students of the Imperial Academy, scholars from poor families, and even children of merchants and artisans. As long as they could read, they could register to take the exam.

Outside the examination hall, officers and soldiers maintained order, checked identities, and prevented proxy test-takers.

At the exact hour of Chen (7-9 AM), the bell rang, and the candidates entered the examination hall.

Each student has their own table, spaced three feet apart, with writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on each table. The exam papers are printed on new paper, and the characters are clear.

Guo Jia personally rolled up the hair and announced loudly, "The exam will last for two hours. No talking or peeking at other people's papers is allowed. Anyone who violates this rule will be expelled from the exam room and will never be hired."

The test takers answered the questions nervously.

There are multiple-choice questions, calculation questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, short-answer questions, and so on.

For example, [the next line after "learning and practicing what one has learned" in the Analects is ( )], [is "The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful" from the Book of Songs?]

For example, "If one mu yields two shi of millet, how much will ten mu yield?" or "If one jin of salt costs five qian, how much will three jin of salt cost?"

The questions were simple, but for students from impoverished backgrounds, they represented a comprehensive test of their basic knowledge.

The examination room was quiet, with only the sound of writing audible.

In Youfufeng, the clan head Geng Zhi bribed Li Xiao, the county official in charge of keeping the exam papers safe, to obtain the exam papers in advance and order the clan's children to memorize the answers overnight.

On the day of the exam, the Geng family's children were confident and answered the questions swiftly. Meanwhile, the students from poor families racked their brains, many scratching their heads in frustration.

After the exam, the papers were sealed and sent to the prefectural government for review.

Li Xiao secretly manipulated the process, grading the exam papers of the Geng family members leniently, while deliberately finding fault with the papers of those from poor families and grading them harshly.

On the fifth day of the tenth lunar month, the results were released after the papers were graded and scored.

In the Youfufeng County Examination, a total of one hundred scholars were selected, of whom more than forty were from the Geng family, more than fifty were from other aristocratic families, and only three were from poor families.

The poor students were in uproar.

Even if the educational environment for children of aristocratic families was superior, the disparity wouldn't be so great.

A scholar who failed the imperial examination angrily beat the drum to appeal for justice, accusing the examiners of cheating.

Upon receiving the report, Prefect Zhang Ji dared not delay and immediately began an investigation.

Li Xiao, feeling guilty, gave himself away and was captured by Zhang Ji. Under severe torture, he confessed to the crime of implicating Geng Zhi.

Zhang Ji personally led the county troops to surround the Geng residence, separating and questioning the Geng family members to prevent them from colluding. Some could not withstand the questioning and confessed to favoritism and malpractice, which implicated the entire clan. They also discovered the examination papers that Li Xiao had copied for Geng Zhi.

Caught red-handed, Geng Zhi had no way to deny the crime.

Zhang immediately sent a report on the case to Chang'an.

October 8th, Duke Jin's residence.

Lu Bu looked at Zhang Ji's report with a calm expression, but his eyes flashed with cold light.

Jia Xu said, "My lord, the evidence of Geng Zhi's corruption is conclusive, and he should be executed according to the law. The officials involved, including Li Xiao, should also be severely punished."

Guo Jia added, "This case has a terrible impact. If it is not dealt with severely, the imperial examination system will become a laughing stock."

Lü Bu nodded: "Issue the order: Geng Zhi and Li Xiao shall be beheaded, and their entire families shall be exiled to Bingzhou to guard the border. Other officials involved shall be punished according to the severity of their offenses, and shall be dismissed from office and never be employed again. The examination for Youfufeng County shall be invalidated, and a re-examination shall be held in ten days, which I will personally supervise."

The order was issued, and the right side of Fufeng trembled.

On October 13th, Geng Zhi was escorted to the marketplace and beheaded. Before his execution, he looked up to the sky and cursed, "Lü Bu, you will die a horrible death! The gentry will not let you go!"

A flash of light, and a head fell to the ground.

The entire Geng family, numbering over a hundred, was put on a prison cart and sent to Bingzhou.

On October 18th, the examination was held again in Youfufeng.

Lu Bu personally arrived at the examination hall, sitting on a high platform, overlooking the entire hall. Cheng Lian and Zhao Yun stood to his left and right, their hands on their swords, exuding a murderous aura.

The candidates were trembling with fear, and no one dared to cheat.

After the exam, Lü Bu continued to personally supervise the grading of the papers, and the results were announced the following day.

Of the seventy people selected this time, twenty-nine came from humble backgrounds and forty-one from aristocratic families.

Lu Bu was satisfied with this result. Standing on the platform, he addressed all the candidates: "The imperial examination is the path for the poor. Whoever dares to cut off this path, I will cut off their lifeline. I hope you will all remember my words today."

The voice was firm and resounding.

The poor scholar knelt and kowtowed in gratitude: "Duke Jin is wise!"

The gentry sons lowered their heads and remained silent, filled with fear.

Following this case, the rate of cheating in the imperial examinations decreased significantly.

Late October, Chang'an.

In the study of the Duke of Jin's mansion, Lü Bu listened to Jia Xu and Guo Jia report on the progress of the reforms.

Jia Xu said, "The nine-rank, eighteen-grade official system has been fully implemented in Sili, and officials' salaries are being paid according to the new system, which has been well received. The assessment system for each prefecture and county has also been established, with evaluations every quarter and a final grade at the end of the year."

Guo Jia said, "The imperial examinations at the prefectural level have concluded successfully. The Sili Prefecture has selected more than 3,000 scholars, of whom more than 30% are from humble backgrounds. Those scholars who wish to enter officialdom have been assigned to various prefectures and counties as unranked officials, or have entered the Imperial Academy for further study."

Lü Bu nodded: "How about the military system reform?"

Jia Xu said, "After the rebellion of Yang Qiu in Liangzhou was quelled, no one in any of the armies openly disobeyed orders. The military rank assessment has been completed, and the first batch of general officer lists has been submitted for your approval, my lord."

Lu Bu took the list and examined it carefully.

Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Cheng Lian, Cao Xing, Wei Xu, Hao Meng, Song Xian, Hou Cheng, Xu Huang, Ma Chao, Zhang Xiu, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, and others were all awarded the rank of brigadier general or above.

Lü Bu picked up his pen and approved: "A date will be chosen for the conferment of ranks."

Guo Jia asked, "My lord, should we strike while the iron is hot and implement the next phase of reforms?"

Lu Bu thought for a moment and said, "Next spring, we will implement land reform. We will investigate the land holdings in all counties and prefectures, restrict the land annexation by powerful families, and the more land a family owns, the higher the tax rate. We will distribute unclaimed wasteland to displaced people and demobilized soldiers. At the same time, we will promote the use of curved plows, waterwheels, composting technology, and seed selection techniques to increase grain production. In addition, we will abolish the poll tax and integrate the poll tax into the land tax, paying taxes based on the amount of land owned."

Jia Xu and Guo Jia exchanged a glance, understanding in their hearts that land reform was the real blow that would shake the foundations of the aristocratic families, and the resistance would certainly be enormous.

But Lü Bu's mind was made up, and no one could stop him.