Liu Hong agreed to all of everyone's requests.

In addition, Liu Hong also arranged for a group of instructors from the Military and Political Affairs Department and staff officers from the General Staff Department to assist them.

Before their departure, Liu Hong arranged a small banquet in the palace to send off Liu Bei and his entourage.

A few days later, under the arrangement of the Royal Merchant Guild, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, Gongsun Zan, and Ma Teng, along with their respective helpers, disguised themselves as four caravans and headed towards Rinan Commandery.

On March 1, Yang Biao, Xun You, and others who had received the transfer order also arrived in Luoyang.

After receiving Yang Biao and his entourage at Deyang Palace, Liu Hong immediately ordered them to be assigned to the Six Ministries, serving as deputies to cabinet ministers such as Cao Song and Xun Shuang, thus paving the way for their future entry into the cabinet.

The emperor's sudden announcement of such a major personnel appointment did not cause the slightest ripple in the court.

Aside from the emperor's own prestige, the main reason was that Yang Biao, Xun You, and others had proven their competence through their years of service in local government.

The principle of "the capable rise to the top" is a rule that no one can fault.

During this period, news of Chu Qian and others' activities in Anxi and the various treaties they signed also reached Liu Hong.

Liu Hong was also delighted with Chu Qian and the others' actions.

Subsequently, Liu Hong invited Cai Yong, Kong Rong, and others to compile and polish the deeds of Chu Qian, Cheng Pu, and others in Anxi, and then staged them into a play, which was published in the newspaper.

In a short time, the glorious deeds of the Han Dynasty envoys and naval soldiers who braved hardships and fiercely resisted invasion thousands of miles overseas and expanded the territory of the Han Dynasty spread far and wide.

Such a legendary story immediately aroused the longing and admiration of countless passionate young people.

Liu Hong seized the opportunity and directly ordered that Chu Qian be conferred the title of First-Class Marquis of Haiqing, and that generals such as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai also receive their own rewards.

This allowed Chu Qian and others to gain fame and an enviable status.

In addition, Liu Hong ordered people to erect a memorial archway for him in his hometown so that the elders of his hometown could admire his achievements.

This series of actions has thoroughly ignited the enthusiasm of ambitious young people to go overseas and make a living.

Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and others, who were on their way to Rinan, seized the opportunity to recruit civilian warriors and other available talents along the way.

Mid-April.

The new year's imperial examinations have officially begun.

As previously announced, apart from other subjects such as industry, agriculture, mathematics, and medicine, this year's imperial examination theme was overseas development.

At this time, the enthusiasm for going overseas to make a living continued.

Therefore, faced with this question personally set by the emperor, all the students taking the exam understood the underlying meaning of the question.

On the surface, it's called overseas development, but what exactly it's developing is something everyone knows the unspoken truth.

Therefore, during the exam period, all the students racked their brains to think about the various policies and strategies that the Han Dynasty would adopt for those overseas territories in the future.

Words such as plunder, colonization, assimilation, annihilation, and extermination frequently appeared on the students' exam papers.

Despite the students' highly aggressive remarks, Liu Hong happily summoned his younger officers to review the exam papers.

In early May, as the monsoon season approached, Liu Hong selected one thousand candidates from the imperial examinations and appointed them accordingly.

Finally, led by Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and Zhang Zhao, these students, along with the previously recruited craftsmen, Taoists, medical personnel, and a large number of civilian warriors, traveled by boat to Parthia to assist Chu Qian and others in governing southern Parthia.

Meanwhile, Commodus, who had stayed in the Han Dynasty for five months, bid farewell to Liu Hong and led the Roman delegation, along with a combined fleet of five thousand Roman warriors and five thousand Han naval personnel, to board a ship at the port of Donglai and begin their journey south.

Behind them, in addition to the large number of merchant ships organized by the Royal Trading Company, there were also nearly 30,000 adventurers following this voyage.

Aside from a small number who were planning to visit Rome, most of these adventurers were thinking of following in the footsteps of Chu Qian and others, preparing to carve out their own niche overseas.

According to the nautical charts published by the Royal Trading Company, the seas surrounding the southeast and southwest of the Great Han Dynasty, apart from the areas around Rinan and Bangkok, included places such as Luzon, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Africa, and even England and Northern Europe, which were marked as such.

In the eyes of these adventurers, although this voyage was full of unknown dangers, compared with the fame and fortune they could gain, these dangers were nothing.

Unfortunately, Chu Qian set a good example, showing people that fame and fortune were within easy reach.

Furthermore, for these adventurers, risking their lives for wealth and fortune is a terrible thing; losing their lives is not a pity, but losing their wealth and fame would be a great loss.

Liu Hong also supported the large number of adventurers who set sail, ordering ports in various places to prioritize supplying these adventurers.

For Liu Hong, the Han Dynasty is currently focused on land power, and most of the empire's energy is concentrated on the Kushan Empire, leaving very limited areas under its control overseas.

Rather than leaving those places untouched, it would be better to let those adventurers go out and pave the way for the empire's future overseas hegemony.

While the people of the Han Dynasty were all focusing their attention overseas, Rome was also preparing for war with Parthia.

After six months of preparation and training, Marcus Aurelius's newly formed fifteen gladiator legions have begun to show signs of combat capability.

The twenty-five legions dispatched by the various provinces and the senatorial nobles also assembled in the east of Rome.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the northern barbarians had not yet invaded the border, Marcus Aurelius hastily issued the order to set out on an expedition, leading an army of 400,000 men toward Parthia.

Behind the Roman army, in addition to countless logistical support teams, there was a special force of 20,000 men.

The soldiers in this unit were all robust and dressed in Taoist robes; they were the defenders of the faith sent by the Taiping Sect.

Zhang Bao, as the Celestial Master of the Roman Taiping Church, also served as the commander-in-chief and went on the expedition.

Zhang Bao led the defenders of the faith to assist in the battle not only to fulfill the alliance between the two countries and help Rome achieve victory, but also primarily to take this opportunity to spread the ideology of the Taiping Religion to the Roman army.

After all, for the Romans, who always admired strength, demonstrating the fighting power of the God's Guardians was far better than trying to persuade them with words.