So it was important to give the officers and men a path to promotion. Establishing the military examination would also quickly select outstanding talent from the lower ranks, allowing the Son of Heaven to better control the army.
Liu Xie adopted Jia Xu's suggestion, for he had actually had the same idea himself. After all, cultivating military talent was extremely important.
With Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, and the others, the Great Han truly had fierce generals as numerous as clouds. But Lü Bu was no longer young, and Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao would grow old too.
Yet the Great Han's reign would continue.
Thus, it needed an unending stream of talent.
The military examination faced fewer restrictions and obstacles than the imperial examination, and there was nothing they needed to worry about. Once preparations were entrusted to Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, and the others, things quickly got underway.
Liu Xie had come to the military camp today at Lü Bu and Zhang Liao's invitation to watch the Military Examination Tournament.
The Han Army Military Camp, outside Chang'an City.
This Military Examination Tournament was being held at the Southern Suburbs Drill Ground. Many had entered, all of them soldiers serving in the army.
In the future, the military examination might be opened to people from every stratum across the country, but this was only a trial, so for now it was restricted to the army.
That did nothing to diminish the ferocity of the competition.
A good placing in the military examination meant promotion and rewards. There was simply nothing better in the world.
Fighting on the battlefield for military merit meant carrying one's head at one's belt and licking blood from a blade's edge. These army matches, however, stopped short of serious harm, and deliberate killing was