Upon hearing Liu Hong's idea about the Royal Bank, Yuan Feng, Cao Song, and the others understood it after only a moment's thought.

The Great Han Bank is crucial to the national economy and people's livelihood, as well as the stability of the country's overall economy. If others were to interfere, it would inevitably become a malignant tumor that harms the country over time.

The emperor's proposal to establish a royal bank was likely based on the division between the Imperial Treasury and the national treasury, separating national and private finances, while further consolidating the interests of the royal family and various powerful clans.

Of course, for Cao Song, Yuan Feng, and others, having the Huang family's business empire as a backer and cooperating with the emperor's royal bank was clearly a more promising prospect.

Subsequently, after a brief meeting, 40% of the Royal Bank's shares were allocated to the Cao, Yuan, Xun, and Yang families, while the remaining 30% was distributed among the officials for profit sharing.

After the meeting, Liu Hong went to Weiyang Palace to play with Liu Cheng for a while. After exchanging a few words with Song Yue, he returned to Deyang Palace and began to handle the selection of this year's Imperial Guard.

Since Liu Hong ascended the throne, the Imperial Guard has been established for more than seven years, recruiting four batches of students and training a total of 20,000 outstanding young officers.

This year will see the start of recruitment for the fifth cohort of students, and Liu Hong places great importance on this cohort.

With the continuous conquests of the Han Dynasty in recent years, the Southern Wuhuan, Southern Xiongnu, Southern Man, Eastern Xianbei, and some Qiang people have successively come under the control of the Han Dynasty.

For these naturalized ethnic minorities, in addition to treating them equally with Han people, it is also very important to give them hope for upward mobility.

Recruiting outstanding young men from various ethnic groups to the Imperial Guard for training and indoctrination would also benefit the Han Dynasty's management of these ethnic groups and its future conquests.

Take the southern barbarians who submitted to the Han Dynasty as an example. The people in those tribes had lived in the jungle since childhood and were very familiar with the geography of Baiyue and South and Southeast Asia. Relying on them to fight was far more suitable than using Han people to fight.

There are also hundreds of thousands of Qiang people who have submitted to the Han Dynasty. It would be more appropriate for them to lead the liberation of the Eastern Qiang, Western Qiang, and Tibet.

Liu Hong would naturally not let go of such a group of high-quality henchmen.

Subsequently, Liu Hong summoned Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui, Xi Zhicai, and others who were in charge of the Privy Council to Deyang Hall to discuss the recruitment of the fifth Imperial Guard.

After some discussion, the number of Imperial Guard trainees was increased from the original five thousand to seven thousand.

The two extra thousand slots were allocated to the Wuhuan, Nanman, Qiang, Xianbei, and Xiongnu people, respectively.

Soon, the Privy Council issued an order to recruit the fifth batch of Imperial Guard trainees.

The three hundred Imperial Guard instructors responsible for recruiting trainees also left Luoyang and went to various prefectures and counties of the Han Dynasty to begin their recruitment work.

Due to its geographical location, the recruitment of the Imperial Guards began first in Luoyang.

July 25th.

In the west of Luoyang, on a vast open space, three thousand eligible young men who had come to participate in the Imperial Guard's assessment were arranged in neat rows of one hundred each in the center of the open space.

These boys included not only members of various large and small families and members of the imperial clan, but also children from working-class, peasant, and merchant families, as well as some sons of slaves who had acquired Han citizenship.

The open space was also crowded with onlookers, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Aside from the teenagers' relatives, most of the onlookers were simply people who came to watch the spectacle.

After all, the love of watching a spectacle is deeply ingrained in the genes of the Han people.

The first test was to run ten miles with a heavy load.

Several Imperial Guard instructors in charge of the assessment came before the boys.

Behind the instructors were dozens of Imperial Guard soldiers and more than a dozen large carts carrying standard military armor and weapons.

Of course, the armor was all packed up so that the boys could carry it on their backs.

An instructor looked at the boys in the first row, then waved to the Imperial Guard soldiers behind him: "Give them those armors and weapons!"

"Here you go!"

The Imperial Guard soldiers responded loudly, and then led the first row of one hundred boys to the front of the cart, distributing armor and weapons to the boys one by one.

Upon receiving the armor and weapons, many of the boys' faces immediately fell.

The set of equipment—spear, long sword, and armor—weighs at least sixty pounds.

Carrying these things while running, it's very difficult for anyone to reach the finish line within the allotted time.

Unlike the other teenagers, Zhao Yun stood to the side with his equipment on his back, looking relaxed and showing no signs of strain.

Zhao Yun's ability to remain so calm and composed was entirely thanks to his master, Tong Yuan.

During Zhao Yun's spear training, in order to maximize his potential, Tong Yuan always required Zhao Yun to practice with sandbags tied to his legs and feet. Those sandbags weighed more than 50 kilograms.

After several years, even when carrying heavy loads, Zhao Yun was still able to wield his spear with unparalleled skill.

Therefore, the weight of these armors and equipment was negligible to Zhao Yun.

"Brother Yun, you absolutely have to get first place!!"

Just as Zhao Yun was organizing his equipment, a clear female voice reached his ears.

Turning his head, he saw two young girls, Lü Zhen and Dong Zhen, standing in front of the crowd, shouting loudly at him.

Seeing the two people cheering him on, Zhao Yun smiled and nodded at them.

Before long, the other boys in the same batch as Zhao Yun also finished getting ready and then lined up in a row as instructed by their instructor.

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