Chapter 491: Chapter 243: The Death of Marquis Wu’an _2
The last wave of benefits after establishing Changsha nation, no one wanted to miss.
Because after this missed opportunity, it might really be difficult to possess and never become an official again.
Under this huge trend, after the king’s wedding in Changsha city, the celebration, and the influx of a large number of scholars, the city became bustling again.
Under this atmosphere, the momentum of Changsha nation was pushed to its peak again.
The Chamber of Political Governance.
At this moment, Lu Yuan was meeting with his Left Prime Minister, Cui Changqing.
“Your Majesty, a total of 21,000 people have enrolled in this imperial examination. According to statistics, there are 4,000 scholars from Ninghai Country, 6,000 from Nanhai Country.
In our own nation, there are 3,000 scholars from the former Dongting Prefecture, 2,300 from the former Xiangyang prefecture in the north of the river, 4,400 from Hanzhong Prefecture, and 500 from Xichuan Prefecture.
Adding up the scholars from the three nations, there are more than 20,000 people.
This grand occasion is unparalleled in the Zhou, Liang, and Yue countries. It is truly a magnificent event in the world.”
As Cui Changqing reports on the preparations for the imperial examination, his excitement is evident, his face flushed with emotion.
An imperial examination with 20,000 people, a spectacle seldom seen in the Zhou, Liang, and Yue countries.
Because imperial examinations in the three countries were held in each prefecture, it was basically impossible to gather all the scholars of the country in one city for the examination.
However, Changsha Nation achieved this, reaching a leading achievement.
One can imagine.
Once the news of this grand examination spreads, the impression of the world towards Changsha nation and the importance attributed to its strength would surely rise substantially.
This would greatly benefit the elevation of Changsha’s national status and international position.
Even apart from these benefits related to fame and international status, the fact that there are tens of thousands of scholars in Changsha nation alone is still quite exciting.
This reveals that the current talent pool in Changsha nation is enough to sustain this newborn kingdom without having to worry about a talent shortage.
Seeing the younger generations emerge in an endless stream, with no crisis of discontinuity caused by the older generations leaving.
For Cui Changqing, who is now an old man and has devoted his whole life to Changsha nation, this is undoubtedly great news.
As a result of these various factors, this Left Prime Minister, who was exceptionally joyous and spirited, has become the number one person in the world of civil officials in Changsha nation and even faintly the number one person in the literary world.
Not only did he have more energy for work, but even his appearance seemed to have become a few years younger, full of endless vitality.
“Since there are so many scholars gathered, we should put more effort into organizing this imperial examination.”
After hearing Cui Changqing’s report, Lu Yuan was also quite excited, and said: “This time, the imperial examination has attracted the attention of all countries and prefectures in the world, and they all have in their hearts a determination to take our Changsha nation seriously. That is why they have come so eagerly.
These people are all outstanding figures of their time, with considerable academic reputation in their local areas, and they are the foundation of local stability.
Well then.
Last time, during my Northern Expedition, many scholars were delayed in Changsha city and were unable to take the examination in time.
This was my fault, and I need to compensate these scholars.
After this Enke, whether they succeed or not, every registered scholar shall receive ten silver taels as their travel expenses under my name, so that their journey home will be smoother.
Although the money is not much, it is a token of my goodwill from Changsha nation and myself.”
For Lu Yuan, ten silver taels were indeed not much.
The number of people participating in the examination this time was just over 20,000.
Even if he gave a hundred thousand silver taels to each of these 20,000 people, it would only be a small sum of 20 million silver taels, merely a trifle.
Keep in mind that during the wedding earlier this year, Lu Yuan spent over four million taels of silver with a stroke of his pen.
Twenty million silver taels were really just a drop in the bucket.
For Lu Yuan now, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Now that the Northern Expedition has returned, Lu Yuan’s various gains from the Changsha nation’s army in Xichuan and Hanzhong prefectures have gradually been counted.
Through various seizures in these two prefectures, as well as the sale of local government assets and prisoners, Lu Yuan has obtained a total of 43 million taels of current silver.
In addition, a large number of extremely valuable jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, and other treasures in the process of being sold. Once they are all sold, it is expected that another 30 million taels can be collected.
Adding all these gains together, there are 77 million taels of silver.
With so much money, Lu Yuan allocated 20 million taels of silver to the national treasury as a special fund for immigration, allowing the court to settle millions of immigrants.
He then left another 50 million taels of silver for military expenses.
Currently, in Lu Yuan’s Changsha Nation, there are as many as 240,000 various civil positions in local prefectures and counties, regional soldiers, central imperial soldiers, palace guards, and city garrison cavalry combined.
Sustaining such a large army would require 14.4 million taels of silver a year, purely for the salaries.
If the daily maintenance expenses were included, the total spending might reach around 16 million taels of silver.
With 50 million taels of silver, it would only last for about three years.
Well, although having an army of 240,000 sounds very inspiring and thrilling, it is indeed quite exhausting to maintain it.
Even though Lu Yuan now has three prefectures and seventeen counties, he still feels the burden.
Fortunately, according to the estimates of Sun Siwen and Cui Changqing, the two left and right prime ministers, after three years, with the settlement of immigrants in Xichuan and Hanzhong prefectures and the recovery of the eight northern prefectures, the national taxes collected will double.