The next day, Zhao Kuo rarely got up until noon. When he was about to stand up, his legs suddenly felt weak and he almost fell to the ground.
"No wonder ancient emperors were so short-lived." Zhao Kuo cursed in his heart. He has practiced martial arts, has inner energy, and has a physical fitness that is better than most people. Those who have not practiced martial arts, and the emperor who has three thousand beauties in his harem, would be surprised if they don't be squeezed dry.
Zhao Kuo looked back at the beauty on the bed, then turned his head the next second, muttering, "Women are devils, women are devils...", forcibly resisted the impulse, got dressed under the service of the palace maid, and faced outside. Go.
The ministers seemed to have expected that Zhao Kuo would come very late, and did not wait for him. As usual, they finished handling things in the morning and went home, and did not appear one after another until three o'clock in the afternoon.
"Greetings to the king." Wei Wuji walked in from outside and said with cupped hands.
"Sit down." Zhao Kuo said.
Wei Wuji walked to the first seat on the right and sat down without hesitation.
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Sheng, Yu Xin, Lin Xiangru, Xunzi, Leyi, Lian Po, Tian Dan and others also entered the hall and sat down each.
Looking at the civil and military ministers gathered together, Zhao Kuo couldn't help but reveal a bright smile on his face.
This is the confidence of Zhao State to strive for world hegemony!
After some congratulations, Wei Wuji handed over the things he had accumulated during this period. All of them had been dealt with. Zhao Kuo did not need to deal with them anymore, but he wanted him to review them and make sure he was aware of them.
Zhao Kuo took a look and found that during the expedition, all parties in the Zhao Kingdom were relatively stable.
The 200,000 captives of the Yan State are still farming in the Zhao State. The old and young in the country are just like the Zhao State after the Changping Battle in history. They cannot spare many troops at all. The north also faces the intrusion of the Donghu. There is no threat from Zhao State.
In the south, Wei and Zhao were still in their honeymoon period, and when Zhao was attacking the Huns, they were also at war with Qin and could not take care of Zhao.
As for Qi State in the east, since its last defeat, it has chosen to be completely transparent. When Qin and Wei were at war, Qin State sent people to Qi State to persuade Qi State to attack Wei State from behind, but Qi State refused. .
Qi State has a good geographical location, rich products, and enjoys the benefits of fish and salt. Its domestic commerce is also very developed. If a wise king appears, it is possible to restore its original position as the eastern hegemon.
Obviously, Qi Wangjian was not a wise king. King Wei still struggled for a while, sometimes being mediocre and sometimes wise. King Jian of Qi was completely at peace and did not even take care of the government affairs, leaving everything to the Queen Mother of Qi.
The rest is land reclamation, saline-alkali land management, road construction, commerce and other matters.
Although there were some twists and turns in the process, especially the changes in weights and measures, many businessmen had objections and even the goods of Zhao State could not be sold.
After all, although weights and measures were different in different countries in the past, overall, the difference was not very big, and circulation was relatively convenient.
In addition, this incident harmed the interests of some officials, gentry and nobles in the country, making it impossible for them to interfere with it in the future, so they added fuel to the flames and united with businessmen to fight back against Zhao.
Originally, if the officials, gentry, and nobles had done it themselves, they would have at least caused some turmoil in Zhao State. Their foundation and connections they had built for many years were not to be underestimated, so they had to unite with businessmen.
Is Zhao Guo Chamber of Commerce a free meal?
In a comparison of strength among the merchants of Zhao State, who can compare with the Zhao State Chamber of Commerce?
Those officials, gentry and nobles were so eager to die that the merchants they were looking for were all from the Zhao Chamber of Commerce, which was no different from throwing themselves into a trap.
The result is obvious. As soon as these businessmen turned around, they sold the officials, gentry and nobles at a good price.
The names of some major rebels were recorded on the list. The largest official was the county magistrate. Further up, we knew that the Zhao State Chamber of Commerce controlled most of the merchants in Zhao State, and the Zhao State Chamber of Commerce was controlled by Zhao Mu, who belonged to Zhao Kuo. My brother, so no one would do such stupid things.
Their biggest mistake was not being well-informed and blindly trusting those businessmen.
These rebels were not beheaded and were all sent to Yanmen Coal Mine to dig coal. Now in Zhao State, as long as the crime is not extremely heinous, it is almost impossible to impose the death penalty. After all, the dead cannot create wealth.
Most of the offenders were sent to coal mines to dig coal. Depending on the severity of the crime, they could spend one to twenty years digging.
Businessmen from various countries seemed to see Zhao's determination to reform weights and measures, and since Zhao was indeed making money, they had no choice but to continue doing business in Zhao.
They can have trouble with Zhao Guo, but they will not have trouble with money.
By the second half of the year, Zhao's business had completely recovered, and with the news of the victory, especially after a large number of cattle, sheep, horses, and furs from Hetao poured into Zhao, business taxes repeatedly set new records.
If there is sufficient food, Zhao State can sustain itself even if it launches another war.
However, the war was about money and food. Zhao Guo had enough money but not enough food. Soldiers need food, prisoners need food, workers building roads need food, officials and merchants need food, cattle, sheep and horses also need food.
Every summer and autumn harvest, in order to win over the people, Zhao would send food to the families of 200,000 Yan army prisoners.
In fact, all the land reclaimed by the Yan army was wasteland. The food they produced was not only enough for themselves, but could barely support their consumption on the road. The rest of the food was subsidized by Zhao.
But for the long-term interests, Zhao Guo can only choose this.
The Hetao that had just been conquered had not been converted into fertile farmland. Even though Zhao had purchased a large amount of grain and grass from Qi and Chu, it was only just enough.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone." After Zhao Kuo read it, he stood up and saluted.
Everyone quickly returned the gift.
"How was it handled during the relocation? Did it not cause public resentment?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"Because the conditions provided by the government are very good. In the past few years, they not only exempted taxes, but also provided cattle for farming. More importantly, children have the opportunity to receive education. Although many people sneer at this and think that letting children go to school is not enough. There is one less labor force in the family. But there are still more people who have a long-term vision and offer to move to the Hetao."
"I found that there were a lot of people who signed up, so I didn't enforce it, so it didn't cause public resentment. However, many people asked the local government to wait until the autumn harvest before moving. After discussion, I agreed." Lin Xiangru said.
"Is there enough time?" Zhao Kuo asked. Before winter begins in the north, immigration must be completed and houses built for the people to survive the winter.
Only in this way can we begin to cultivate wasteland from the beginning of next spring.
If the relocation is not completed before winter, it will be delayed for at least half a year.
"There is no problem with immigration. I will take the people to Hetao when the time comes. But the houses..." At this point, Lin Xiangru hesitated.
Although there is cement, Zhao Guo's houses are still built with rammed earth. This thing requires a little hammering and must be completed by the cooperation of several strong men.
It is time-consuming and labor-intensive and cannot be built in a short time.
As for cement, although it is more convenient, on the one hand, the output is not enough, and all of it needs to be used for road construction. On the other hand, steel bars are needed to build a house. Forget the production and quality of steel bars in Zhao State, it is impossible to use them to build houses for civilians anyway.
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