October is already the beginning of winter. The autumn harvest is over and the grain is returned to the warehouse. The winter wheat has just been planted and the tender green wheat seedlings are growing, showing their full vitality in the cold wind.
People who have worked hard for a year return home and have no time to rest. Women have to spin silk and weave cloth, and older children have to grind rice on the side.
Rice pounding is very tiring, even miserable. There is a criminal law in various countries called Chengdan pounding, which forces male criminals to build cities and female criminals to pound rice.
Even though the Mohists have improved the tools for pounding rice, which can be used not only with hands but also with feet, so that children can complete it, it still cannot change the fact that rice pounding is a manual job.
If the family is a little better off, they can afford to raise cattle or donkeys at home, and if they have a millstone, they can use it to grind rice, which can save a lot of energy.
Men, under the organization of the government, plowed river channels and built water conservancy projects.
There is a lot of precipitation in spring and summer, and it is necessary to harvest grain and farm in autumn. However, it is too cold in late winter and people will freeze to death.
September and October are the best times to explore the river. At this time, the water level has dropped, the mud at the bottom of the river is exposed, and the weather is not too cold to bear.
Therefore, at this time every year, the government organizes men from each village to plow the river for a month. There is no salary, but the government takes care of the food, and everyone can transport the silt dug out by themselves back to their own land.
These silts are so fertile that even without adding any waste materials, the crops grown will exceed those of ordinary fields.
For farmers, food is life. Even if not much silt is dug out and the increase in grain production is limited, they are happy with it.
But this year there are some exceptions.
The governors of Taiyuan County, Yanmen County, Dai County, and Yunzhong County simultaneously issued public announcements to recruit civilians to transport grain to Handan.
Everyone realized that Zhao State was going to fight a big war.
In fact, the front line has been fighting for almost a year. However, because the Zhao State has always been very stable, the price of food and salt has been very stable, and the news is transmitted slowly these days, so most people do not know that the Zhao State is here. fight.
But this time is different. The Zhao court has decided to complete its victory in one battle and destroy Qin at all costs.
Now in various parts of Zhao State, agricultural taxes for the autumn harvest have been collected, but Zhao State still needs to increase its troops, and it is not safe to rely on this little food alone.
After more than half a year of consumption, there is not much left in the granaries in Handan and Yecheng.
Wuyang's granary must supply Yandi, and Gaotang's grain and grass must supply Pang's army. Shangdang's food must support Lian Po's army.
In fact, the imperial court began to adjust grains from all over Hebei a few months ago.
Among the major granaries across the country, only the Jinyang Granary and the Hetao Granary are not in use.
Zhao Kuo would not use the Hetao granary unless absolutely necessary.
Hetao has been exempted from taxes for five years, and has not paid a single grain of grain so far. The grain in the granary was cultivated bit by bit by Li Fu and his captives, and it was all used to support the water conservancy construction of Hetao.
Once the imperial court requisitions grain and grass from the Hetao, water conservancy construction will be affected.
Except for Hetao and Yandi, the grain and grass from all counties in Zhao State were gathered around each county and quickly transported to Handan.
Although Yunzhong was also under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Hetao, the immigrants from Zhao originally filled the three counties of Helan, Shuofang and Jiuyuan. There were almost no immigrants in Yunzhong, so he was exempted from tax and corvee.
At this moment, Zhao Guo spent several years and countless manpower and material resources to build the official road, showing its absolute value.
On the official road from Taiyuan to Handan, from Yunzhong to Daijun to Wuyang, farmers lined up in long lines, leading horses, driving cattle, or pushing carts to transport baskets and bags of grain. to destination.
After the grain is transported from Daijun to Wuyang, or from Jinyang through the Taihang Mountains, it is quickly loaded onto a ship, or goes upstream along the Yellow River, or downstream along the Zhangshui River, quickly arriving at Handan, and then along the river from Handan It was sent all the way along the Yellow River to Xingyang.
After Li Mu received the news from the court, he immediately regrouped the prisoners who had just been scattered to various places, quickly selected 50,000 prisoners, and sailed to Handan.
At the same time, 10,000 soldiers were also selected.
Meng Ao and his son and Qin Kai are leading the new army to train military discipline.
It is impossible to train the new army into elite soldiers in such a short period of time, but at least they must know what they can and cannot do.
The track laying was not as smooth as Zhao Bao imagined. Although the technical problems were overcome, when it was actually implemented, a large number of unexpected situations still emerged.
It took several months to lay the track only as far as Dai County.
But even so, it also shortened a lot of transportation time.
A large number of cattle and sheep were transported from the grassland to Daijun, and then turned to Wuyang and transported by water to Handan. Previously built chicken, duck, goose and pig farms, as well as rabbit farms, also continue to pack the dried meat into trucks.
At this moment, the state machine of Zhao State finally showed its terrifying heritage and operating power to the world.
"Starting from this battle, I will tell the world what a real war is. During the Battle of Changping, there was a great famine in the country, and the Zhao State that invited food from other countries is gone forever." Zhao Kuo's eyes were deep. , high-spirited.
In the past, the Qin State was powerful, Bai Qi was invincible, and Fan Ju was full of tricks.
But now, Zhao's famous generals and counselors are several times that of Qin's.
There are two military spirit legions, with one hundred thousand cavalry and hundreds of thousands of armor.
There are countless loads of grain and grass, carts of cattle, sheep and pork, and an endless supply of all kinds of salted fish.
The official roads and waterways are smooth, and supplies of materials can be continuously sent to the front line.
Everyone in the country wants to fight, and the soldiers are happy when they hear about the war.
He will tell Qin what it means to bully the weak and crush with strength.
He didn't believe that three cobblers could beat one Zhuge Liang. Le Yi, Tian Dan, Lian Po, Wei Wuji, Qin Kai, Pang, and Le Cheng put together so many people that they couldn't beat Bai Qi.
"Your Majesty, the first batch of grain, grass, cattle, sheep and other meat has arrived at Handan Guicang and will be shipped to the front line tomorrow." Lin Xiangru interrupted Zhao Kuo's emotion and said quickly.
When the cannon is fired, there is a thousand taels of gold.
Supplies were plentiful, and the soldiers at the front were fighting well, but Lin Xiangru, who was in charge of logistics, did not feel happy at all.
Ever since Zhao Kuo decided to go on a personal expedition, he had been busy every day, all kinds of things happened one after another, and he even had a few more white hairs.
"Send someone to notify Wei and South Korea, and ask them to prepare manpower to transport grain and grass." Zhao Kuo glanced at Lin Xiangru angrily, but Lin Xiangru didn't see it. He was immersed in processing paperwork, and would go over to check the warehouse in person later. .
Warehouses storing grain and grass supplies must not only be waterproof and fireproof, but also be anti-theft and anti-rodent... There must be no mistakes. Once something goes wrong, the frontline soldiers will be demoralized and even hungry.
Lin Xiangru could only feel relieved after personally inspecting it.
"I will prepare a letter and send it to the King of Wei and King Han." Lin Xiangru said while approving the document without raising his head.
Water transportation can only be carried to Xingyang. The distance from Xingyang to Rangxian cannot be used by water transportation. Zhao State is short of manpower, so Han and Wei can only help recruit civilians, which happens to be the boundary of Han and Wei.
"Your Majesty, an army of 50,000 has arrived outside Handan City." Qin Kai stepped into the palace and said with clasped fists.
It is impossible for the State of Zhao to call them prisoners. The moment they were selected to join the army, they were prisoners of the Zhao army, not the Yan army.
"I know, send the order to reward the army." Zhao Kuo said.
"No." Qin Kai said with clasped fists. He was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly thought of something and said again, "Maybe the king can take the time to go to the military camp and at least let everyone know who they are working for now."
"Thank you, General, for reminding me. Let's reward the army at noon tomorrow. I will be there by then," Zhao Kuo said.
"Then let's go back first, general." Qin Kai said, cupping his fists.
If Qin Kai came to Zhao State at the beginning, he was only moved by Li Mu's words and looked forward to one day going north to destroy Hu.
So after coming to Zhao State, Qin Kai was really shocked by the huge difference between Zhao and Yan.
There are wide official roads, tall waterwheels that can be seen everywhere in the fields, complete water conservancy facilities, one cattle for every two households, as well as colleges, libraries and so on.
In the State of Yan, every time the government recruited men to go to war, every family felt as if they were bereaved and tried every means to avoid military service, and even the whole family fled into the mountains.
But in the Zhao country, every household was happy to hear about the war. The government just posted a notice and ordered all villages and towns to notify, and countless people rushed to sign up. Those who were not selected were dejected, but those who were selected cheered, as if they had received a great deal. the benefits of.
Compared with Zhao State, Yan State is like an uncivilized barbarian area.
But it’s not that Qin Kai didn’t know what the Zhao State was like before. Although it was stronger than the Yan State, its strength was limited. And this strength is only because the geographical environment of Zhao State is better than that of Yan State.
It’s not that the king of Zhao State is more wise or the system is more advanced.
But now, Qin Kai saw all-round gaps.
All the reasons are because of the current King Zhao.
This monarch is as wise as King Yan Zhao, or even wiser, and he is younger.
As he learned more and more, Qin Kai's recognition of Zhao Kuo became higher and higher.
Especially when Qin Kai learned that Zhao Kuo was angry and attacked Qi in order to avenge his countrymen, his recognition reached its peak.
Just an ordinary civilian, King Zhao is willing to do this.
What if it’s a minister?
Over the years, not to mention civilians, how many ministers have been abandoned or even killed by the monarch?
In his early years, Qin Kai was a hostage in Donghu and had no one to rely on. I can best understand this feeling when I was abandoned by the monarch in my later years and was not reused.
After returning home, Qin Kai began to think about Zhao Kuo, and then reminded Zhao Kuo to regain the morale of the 50,000-strong army.
"Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from the State of Qi." Not long after Qin Kai left, Yu Xin hurried in from outside.
"What's the matter?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"The State of Qi has found out that the massacre of our Zhao State was the result of the Qin State. They sent people to bribe the bandits and officials of the State of Qi. After the bandits killed our Zhao people, they immediately fled into the State of Qi. Because these officials had been The Qin State bribed them, and the Qin State had a handle on them, so they had to take in these gangsters. This made our Zhao State think that Qi State had done this, so we sent troops to attack the Qi State, provoking a war between the two countries, and making our Zhao State suffer from enemies on both the east and west sides. .”
"This is the confession of the officials and gangsters of Qi State. At present, Qi State has sent people to arrest all the gangsters and officials involved, and sent them to Handan and handed them over to Zhao State for processing. I hope that Zhao State can look at Zhao Qi In terms of the friendship between the two countries, they withdrew their troops from Qi State. In addition, Qi State was very dissatisfied with Qin State's method of framing the situation. The King of Qi and the Queen Mother of Qi wanted to form an alliance with Zhao State and jointly send troops to attack Qin."
Yu Xin said quickly.
During this period of time, he continued to make suggestions for the State of Qi, and even wrote to Feng Quji, asking him to assist the State of Qi in catching the gangsters. And told Queen Mother Qi that Feng Quji could be trusted.
With the joint efforts of the two state agencies, all the gangsters in Qi were finally captured and brought to justice in just half a month.
As for whether it's all, to be honest, both Qi Guo and Yu Xin have the answer in their hearts.
Zhao Kuo also knew, but he did not dwell on this matter. The real murderer was Qin, and the gangsters and officials were just accomplices. After such a long time, it is not easy to catch most of them.
This also shows that the State of Qi has been forced into a desperate situation. If it were not urgent for the State of Zhao to withdraw its troops, it would not be willing to accept this humiliation.
"Where have the gangsters and officials been sent?" Zhao Kuo checked the letter and found that Qi Guo had not falsified it because it still had Feng Quji's signature on it.
As for why Feng Quji helped Qi, Zhao Kuo also had speculations in his mind.
He was not a fool. He knew that since the Zhao State annexed the Yan State, the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government advocated withdrawing troops from the Qi State. However, he was so angry that he never gave the order.
But now that it has been found that Qin did it, there is no need to continue to insist.
It just so happens that Zhao State is going to attack Qin State with all its strength, and having more large armies will give it a better chance of winning.
"Your Majesty, we have arrived at Lixia," Yu Xin said.
"Have a good trial. If you are not wronged, take him to Zhao's tomb and kill him. This will give Zhao an explanation. As for Qin, I will not let him have an easy time." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice.
"Nuo." Yu Xin leaned over and said, "Your Majesty, the matter of withdrawing troops..."
"Send an order to General Pang and order him to withdraw from Qi immediately after receiving the order. Return all the captured cities to Qi. The Chu army..." At this point, Zhao Kuo frowned.
He could order Pang to withdraw, but he could not order Chu to withdraw.
Of course, after the Zhao State withdraws its troops, the Chu Army has no choice but to withdraw its troops even if it is unwilling, but the relationship between the two countries may become rigid or even broken.
This is what Zhao Kuo doesn't want to see.
"I thought that I could let Qi cede the cities captured by the Chu army to Chu. Those cities had already been captured by Chu. Qi had no substantial losses, and Chu could legitimately obtain a large area of land." Yu Xin said.
This method may not satisfy both parties, but it is the only way. It is impossible for Chu State to give up the meat it swallows, and Qi State has no ability to snatch these lands back from Chu State.
"I first followed what my husband said, and then sent a letter to the King of Chu, saying that I invited him to jointly attack the Qin State. After defeating the Qin State, all the original Chu State's old lands will be returned to the Chu State, and I will not take any of the three Jin Dynasty cities." Zhao Kuo said. .
It is impossible to satisfy both Qi and Chu. With Chu's appetite, even if it swallows half of Qi, it may not be satisfied. However, the Chu State's homeland is larger than half of Qi State, and it is far away from Zhao State. Even if it is conquered, Zhao State cannot occupy it.
If Chu and Zhao jointly attack Qin, he would not mind giving this land to Chu.
