Chapter 515: Lu Bu: You are right, but the competition among vice presidents has always been like this
In response to Zhang Liao’s self-recommendation, Liu Xie and the ministers in the hall looked at each other for a while, and then smiled again.

Zhang Liao blushed at this and asked, “Your Majesty, why are you laughing? Do you think I am incompetent?”

He thought the emperor was laughing at him for overestimating his own abilities.

“Wenyuan misunderstood.”

Liu Xie stopped laughing, shook his head and said, “It’s not that I think Wenyuan’s qualifications and abilities are insufficient, it’s just that the position of dean has already been decided.”

Zhang Liao’s expression froze slightly when he heard this, and he immediately asked, “Has it been confirmed? Could it be Fengxian?”

Liu Xie said: “No, the position of president is not held by any civil official or military officer, but is held concurrently by me.”

“I am the president of the Han Imperial Military Academy.”

Liu Xie defined the Imperial Military Academy of the Han Dynasty as the Whampoa Military Academy of later generations, which was used to train cutting-edge military talents.

Whoever becomes the dean will have the highest leadership and voice in the college, and will have the right to command all students graduating from the college.

It is no exaggeration to say that the importance and status of this position will directly surpass that of the general in the future, and no matter who is appointed to serve as the dean, it will be unsuitable.

After all, the Military Academy is different from the Imperial College. The Imperial College trains civil officials, while the Military Academy directly forges swords for the country. The two cannot be compared.

So after much deliberation, Liu Xie decided that he would serve as the principal concurrently, and that future emperors would also serve in this position concurrently.

“Your Majesty is the dean?”

Zhang Liao was stunned for a moment. After he came to his senses, the trace of longing and expectation in his heart was instantly extinguished.

If the emperor appoints someone else to the position of dean, he will definitely find a way to compete for it.

But the emperor himself holds this position, how can he fight for it?
Is it possible to fight with the emperor?
Thinking of this, Zhang Liao couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated. He cupped his hands and forced a smile, saying, “I see. I am sorry for being rude.”

“Your Majesty is indeed the most suitable person to be the dean.”

Liu Xie was about to speak when he heard a chaotic sound of footsteps and an urgent voice coming from outside the hall.

“Your Majesty, please do not listen to Zhang Wenyuan’s instigation!”

Everyone looked towards the entrance of the hall and saw Lu Bu running in hurriedly, with Gao Lan chasing after him.

When Lu Bu came in, he took one look at Zhang Liao who was kneeling on one knee, and with his tiger eyes wide open, he cursed at him: “Zhang Wenyuan, you are so unethical that you asked for a job from His Majesty without my knowledge!”

Zhang Liao curled the corner of his mouth and turned his head away.

Lu Bu did not want to argue with him, and quickly said to Liu Xie: “Your Majesty, Zhang Wenyuan is only good at talking. He is not good at fighting, let alone teaching. If he is the dean, he will definitely mislead the students!”

“It would be better for me to be the dean… Of course, I am not saying that I must be the dean, but if I become the dean, I will have a broader horizon, and it can also train more powerful generals for our Han Dynasty, which is beneficial and harmless.”

“Besides, Your Majesty, don’t you trust my abilities?”

Like Zhang Liao, Lu Bu asked Liu Xie for a position.

Both of them have their eyes on the position of dean.

After hearing this, Liu Xie was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. In order to fight for this position, the two of them were more active than each other.

So he had to explain again: “I will personally take on the post of dean, and from now on, the post of dean will be taken on by the emperor.”

“What?”

After hearing this, Lu Bu was dumbfounded, and his joy was instantly dashed.

Zhang Liao, who was standing aside, felt a little more balanced.

Although he did not win the position of dean, neither did Lu Bu, so he could accept that.

After all, although one’s own failure is terrible, one’s brother’s success is even more worrying.

But what he didn’t expect was that after Liu Xie finished speaking, he changed the subject and continued, “Although I am concurrently serving as the dean, it is only in name only. I don’t have the time to manage the college.”

“So I also plan to establish a vice-president position.”

“I don’t have a candidate for this position yet.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Liao and Lu Bu were both shocked, and the fire in their hearts burned again.

associate dean!
Zhang Liao said without hesitation: “Your Majesty! I——”

Before he could finish his words, Lu Bu slapped him on the face and said to Liu Xie excitedly: “Your Majesty! Let me be the vice president!”

“I am willing to exchange my position as general for it!”

Being a general is impressive, but how can it be as impressive as being a vice-president? Anyway, he has already achieved his dream of becoming a general, so it’s time to change to being a vice-president!
Zhang Liao was so angry that he was shaking all over. He slapped Lu Bu’s hand away and cursed, “You are trading your official position for another one. Do you think your Majesty doesn’t exist?”

“Your Majesty! I beg you to punish Lu Bu for his disrespect!”

Lu Bu glared and said, “I can exchange the position of general for this because of my ability. Can’t you exchange it if you want to?”

“Your Majesty, Zhang Liao is clearly jealous of me!”

The two quarreled and neither of them would give up.

Liu Xie was watching the fun with great interest, and he was just about to move a small stool and take a handful of melon seeds to crack.

Zhuge Liang couldn’t stand it anymore and reminded them, “Your Majesty, the other ministers still have to deal with government affairs. It’s not a good idea for Lord Wen and Marquis Duxiang to continue arguing like this. What do you think…”

Fa Zheng, Lu Su and Yang Xiu were actually also watching the fun, but after hearing what Zhuge Liang said, they quickly sat up straight and pretended to handle government affairs.

Liu Xie glanced at them and felt that what Zhuge Liang said made sense, so he said to Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, “Stop arguing. Since you both want to be vice president, then find a fair way to run for election.”

Lu Bu’s eyes lit up and he said, “Your Majesty is right! I request a duel with Zhang Liao! The winner will be the vice president!”

“Bah! You call this fair? You are so shameless!”

As soon as Lu Bu finished speaking, Zhang Liao cursed, asking how he could possibly win a fight with Lu Bu?
It is only possible if Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun attack together!

Lu Bu was not angry, and laughed: “So what if you are shameless, the competition among vice presidents has always been like this, Wenyuan, don’t blame me.”

“Come on, let’s go out and practice. Let me see how much you’ve improved!”

Liu Xie heard this and said, “Wait! I didn’t say that the deputy dean should be determined by the strength of his martial arts. Besides, it’s not appropriate to choose the dean from just the two of you. The selection should be broader.”

Lu Bu had already started to roll up his sleeves, but he had to stop what he was doing after hearing this. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Then… how do you plan to choose, Your Majesty?”

If the decision is made based on the level of martial arts strength, he is not inferior to anyone.

But if it were replaced with something else, it would be hard to say.

Liu Xie smiled slightly: “My method is fair. Whether you want to be the vice president is not up to you or me.”

“It is up to the officers and soldiers in each army to decide.”

“I will hold a secret ballot. All soldiers above the rank of corporal can participate. The one with the most votes will be appointed as the vice president.”

“After all, this is a military academy, so naturally we should let the person with the highest prestige in the army serve as the vice president. Otherwise, how can we convince the public?”

“This method is fair, just and open. What do you think?” Liu Xie expressed his own idea.

There was a reason for him to do so. Firstly, he was curious about which general had the highest prestige in the army now. Secondly, he wanted to expand the popularity and influence of the military academy as much as possible and spread its reputation.

“Vote for election?”

Zhang Liao and Lu Bu looked at each other. Neither of them had expected that the emperor would adopt such a method to select the vice-president.

But…it’s indeed fair.

Zhang Liao was the first to agree. “Your Majesty, this is a very good idea, but I have one question… Can anyone participate in the election? All generals?”

Liu Xie smiled and said, “Of course, otherwise how can it be called fair?”

“So if you want to win the election, it depends on who can get more recognition from the soldiers. The person the soldiers vote for is the one they think is the most powerful general.”

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and nodded heavily: “I have no objection.”

Lu Bu hesitated for a moment, then clasped his fists and said, “Me too.”

Both Lu Bu and Zhang Liao were confident in their prestige in the army. After all, each of them had an army under his command.

“Well, it’s settled then. In a few days I will announce the establishment of the Han Imperial Military Academy. You all may leave now.”

Liu Xie waved his hand, indicating that they could leave.

He still has a lot of important things to deal with.

The two men bowed and then, led by Gao Lan, left the Xuanshi Hall and walked out of the palace.

After the two men left, Zhuge Liang bowed to Liu Xie and asked, “Your Majesty, are you really going to use voting to select the vice president?”

Liu Xie looked at Zhuge Liang and raised his eyebrows, “Why, is there anything wrong with this method?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that…”

Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly, then said, “But if this happens, I’m afraid the generals will start to argue with each other.”

Liu Xie smiled cheerfully and said, “Then let them fight. They don’t have anything to do now anyway, so it’s better to find them something to do.”

“But I’m very curious about who will be the vice president elected in the end. Do you want to make a bet?”

When it comes to betting, everyone becomes interested.

Fa Zheng said excitedly: “I think General Zhao Yun will win the election. I bet on General Zhao!”

After thinking for a while, Yang Xiu said, “Duke Wen has made outstanding military achievements and has great prestige in the army. It is more likely that Duke Wen will win.”

“What Xiaozhi and Dezu said is wrong.”

Lu Su did not agree with their views. He twisted his beard and said, “Anyone who can be the vice president must be mature and steady. I think General Huang is very suitable.”

The three of them each had their favorite candidates, and Liu Xie asked Zhuge Liang, “What about Kong Ming? Who do you think will win?”

Zhuge Liang chuckled and said, “I think Duxianghou will win… I wonder which general your majesty prefers?”

Liu Xie blinked and spread his hands, saying, “How would I know? You can just make a bet, I just said so.”

“Anyway, whoever wins the bet will treat everyone to a meal.”

Everyone’s faces froze when they heard this.

The emperor… is really a cunning person.

……

Three days passed in a blink of an eye.

As promised, Liu Xie announced to the court and the public the news of the establishment of the Han Royal Military Academy, and as soon as the news came out, the court and the public were in an uproar.

The attention it attracted was even greater than when the Imperial College was first opened!

Since ancient times, only scholars had specialized schools for studying, and the Imperial College was also a type of school. Moreover, there was Emperor Ling’s Hongdumen School before that, so everyone was relatively accepting of the establishment of the Imperial College.

But now the emperor actually wants to open an academy to train military commanders. This is unprecedented!
After hearing the news, many court officials submitted memorials, saying that this was inappropriate and smacked of warmongering.

After all, why would we need so many military generals in a peaceful and prosperous era?

They even set up a special academy to train military commanders. Are they worried that the country does not have enough martial virtue?
Of course, the most important point is that if this military academy is really opened, the originally relatively idle group of military generals will be united as one.

This is a huge threat to the civil officials group!

Because where there are colleges, factions will be formed.

If in the future the military generals group also has clear factions and leaders like the civil officials group, how can the civil officials group still dominate the court?
Various memorials flew into the cabinet like snowflakes, and ministers came to the palace to seek an audience with the emperor in an endless stream.

But all the memorials fell on deaf ears, with no response; and the ministers who came to the palace to seek an audience with the emperor were turned away by Gao Lan on the grounds that the emperor was unwell.

In addition to this, news spread that the emperor would concurrently serve as the president of the academy and that the vice-president would be elected by military officers through voting.

“Tsk, we are all illiterate people, what’s the point of having an academy? Can we understand what the teacher is saying when we go in and listen to his lectures?”

“What do you mean by listening to the teacher’s lecture? Didn’t you read the notice? The lecturers in the military academy are all powerful generals like the generals and generals Zhao!”

“I heard that the standard for entering this military academy is to kill at least thirty enemies on the battlefield. If you have studied, the standard can be lowered, and you have to learn to read after entering.”

“Hiss – kill thirty enemies? This standard is too high. Besides, what’s the point of studying for us soldiers? Isn’t it enough to just kill the enemies?”

“You still don’t believe me when I say you’re a rough guy. This academy is a place to train generals. To be a general, you must either be extremely brave or know the art of war. Otherwise, how can you be a general?”

“My goodness, His Majesty is the dean. If we can enter this academy, wouldn’t that mean we will become His Majesty’s students?”

“Damn it, I only have 17 bandit heads in my account, 13 short of the mark. I can’t reach the standard.”

“You should go back and learn to read.”

“Tsk, I can kill enemies on the battlefield even though I can’t read. Study? What the hell!”

“By the way, who is the vice president and is letting us vote?”

“I support General Zhao as the vice president!”

“When the Marquis of Guanjun led us to slaughter the Qiang people, we had a great time. I vote for the Marquis of Guanjun!”

“In my opinion, the position of vice president is best suited to the general. Who can compare to the general in killing enemies? I support the general!”

……

There was a heated discussion throughout the army, and the soldiers showed great enthusiasm for the military academy and voting.

Although many people do not understand the significance of a military academy, it does not prevent them from understanding one thing – that is, you can become a general after graduating from a military academy!

For a time, the entire army was in a wave of enthusiasm because of the establishment of the Han Royal Military Academy.

(End of this chapter)