Zhao Kuo's intention is very clear. He wants people, food, ordnance, and even more power!
The important person is the elite Zhao army who fought bloody battles with Zhao Kuo in Shangdang. Isn’t Daibei’s army enough? At least maintaining the status quo is absolutely enough, and even taking the initiative may not necessarily lead to a disadvantage.
Because even when the Battle of Changping was the most difficult, King Zhao did not mobilize Daibei's last defensive force, and Daidi still maintained a military strength of at least 50,000. From this perspective, King Zhao was still much wiser than the monarchs who allowed barbarians to enter the country and those who "would rather live with foreign thieves than domestic slaves." At least he understands the principle of "brothers are jealous of each other, and they are protected from outsiders".
It's just that although Daibei's army is sufficient, it is not Zhao Kuo's cronies. Of course, Zhao Kuo was confident that his prestige among the Zhao army was at its peak. Even the unfamiliar Daibei army would definitely obey his orders, but in the final analysis, it was still not as good as the Shangdang army who had experienced life and death. Use your fingers.
With the participation of these 10,000 elite troops, under their leadership, I believe that Daibei's army will soon be able to adapt to its own command method. The so-called mixing of sand is mostly like this.
Of course, this is only one of the purposes of this move.
Secondly, when selecting the front line of the army, in addition to his 500 personal soldiers, Zhao Kuo also specially asked Lian Po to select 3,000 elite cavalry. Zhao Kuo must have this force in his own hands, and at the same time he also needs to deal with it. Three thousand elite cavalry were recalibrated and thoroughly re-armed.
The third reason, which is also the most important reason, is not common sense to outsiders, and even Lian Po could not inform him - what Zhao Kuo wanted was to reduce the mobile forces of Shangdang County and Hanoi County as much as possible.
After the war, the young men returned to their fields, and the total strength of the soldiers was about 120,000. After taking turns to return to the fields, the total strength of Shangdang County and Hanoi County was about 70,000 to 80,000. In other words, there are only more than 30,000 troops in each county in the two counties, and less than 40,000 troops are stationed there. It is conceivable that such a small number of troops is the limit of defense against Qin.
If Zhao Kuo draws out another 10,000 elites from among them, then the troops on the front line will be almost stretched. Lian Po and Tian Dan may be able to defend a little, but once something happens in Handan and the Qin army blocks the way ahead, it will be impossible to rush to Handan's aid.
Of course, if King Zhao is wise, he will grant General Lian Po of Shangdang County and General Tian Dan of Hanoi County the right to recruit troops on the spot. It does not require too much. As long as they can absorb even ten or twenty thousand combat power among the refugees, it will be greatly improved. Alleviating the problem of insufficient military strength in the two counties. If we absorb another 10,000 or 20,000 people, we will have the power to rush to help other places.
It's a pity that after Zhao Kuo made such a fuss, especially the move of not obeying the king's orders, King Zhao was obviously full of doubts about the generals outside, even if that person was the old general Lian Po Lian.
With King Zhao's current state of mind, how could he possibly grant the right to conscript troops? !
Generals Lian Po and Tian Dan, who did not have the right to recruit troops, would not be as lawless as Zhao Kuo and disobey the king's orders. Therefore, they could only use limited troops to deploy defenses on the spot. Once something happened in Handan, the limited strength of the troops would make the two generals helpless. , at least it can delay the progress of the two generals' return reinforcements.
Of course, Xu Li still had a lot of troops stationed in the field, but those troops were not real soldiers and horses, let alone the soldiers and horses of King Zhao. Let alone King Zhao, even if Lian Po came personally, I am afraid Xu Li would not agree to give troops and horses. In a word, without the general order of General Zhao Kuo and Zhao, half of the soldiers in the field would not move.
As for when Handan will be in danger, the answer has been given in the history books. Today's Zhao State seems to be cooking in a raging fire, but in fact it has become a thorn in the eyes of many countries, such as the Qin State's younger brother-Yan State.
Perhaps Yan State will not launch a surprise attack on Handan in the near future as it did in history, but the hatred has been sown, and it is only a matter of time before it breaks out.
As for food, it seems much simpler. After all, "the three armies have not moved, food and grass go first." Zhao Kuo obviously needs a lot of food and grass if he wants to solve the problem of the Hu people.
But the bad thing is that the Battle of Changping has just ended. Although the autumn harvest did receive part of the food, for the entire Zhao Kingdom, it was a good rain after a long drought. What Zhao Kuo did was to eat all the food that Zhao Guo could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Without food, it would be difficult for King Zhao to do anything. Soldiers need food. Without food, where would the soldiers be?
In this way, the recovery of Zhao State led by King Zhao can be further suppressed. It will not only cut off King Zhao's military sources, but also accumulate the dissatisfaction of the people of Zhao State - they obviously won the battle of Changping, but failed to do so. Enjoying the fruits of victory, I am still as hungry as ever.
Of course, what Zhao Kuo wanted on the surface was only the grain and grass from Shangdang County and Hanoi County. However, it was obvious that the grain and grass handed over by these two devastated counties were not enough for Zhao Kuo. King Zhao demolished the east wall to make up for the west wall. .
But the people don’t know, let alone understand. They will only ask: Where has the autumn grain in Handan County gone? The general clearly only wanted food from Shangdang County and Hanoi County.
If the food issue is Zhao Kuo's yin and yang, then the demand for ordnance is unmistakably a demand for rights. Obviously, the Handan treasury is now empty, weapons of all sizes have been moved to the Changping battlefield, and Handan County, which is flourishing with all kinds of waste, is simply unable to provide Zhao Kuo with weapons.
Because the production of ordnance must be handed over to Shangdang County, which has begun to expand production, I believe that Zhao Yu will not let go of this opportunity to perform, and will naturally volunteer to take on this task. As long as Shangdang County undertakes this task, ordnance production will inevitably become the pillar industry of Shangdang County. You must know that Shangdang's ordnance production is now firmly in the hands of Zhao Wei.
As long as Zhao Kuo still has requirements for ordnance, no matter who is replaced as the Shangdang County Sheriff, he must fully cooperate with Zhao Wei's work. Zhao Wei's work can be linked to Xu Li's farming affairs.
In this way, a huge chain of interests is formed. Anyone who dares to touch this chain of interests will be accused of destroying the situation in Daibei and harming the Hu people, and will be expelled.
Therefore, by seizing the two core tasks, Zhao Kuo firmly held Shangdang and Hanoi counties in his hands.
As a result, with Shangdang, Hanoi, and Daibei, where Zhao Kuo was about to leave, Zhao had three parts of the world, and Zhao Kuo already occupied two of them, while the remaining part was still in turmoil. With just one opportunity, Zhao Kuo could completely capture the country of Zhao.
Of course, this opportunity may not be difficult to wait for. What is difficult is that Zhao Kuo must completely conquer the land of Daibei before this opportunity. There are a group of proud soldiers there! It may not be easy to make them completely obey you.
But no matter what, the goal has been set and the road is at our feet.
