After leaving Le Yi's mansion, the news of King Zhao's concubine seemed to have wings and spread in all directions in an instant.
Sure enough, as Zhao Kuo imagined, not only the courtiers and nobles of the Zhao Kingdom, but also the nobles of the newly attached Yan and Han families also started to think of "foreign relatives".
Since one wife has been chosen, it is naturally impossible to choose only one wife.
In just a few days, countless people asked Mr. Pingyuan about selecting a concubine.
This is really a bit busy for Mr. Pingyuan.
There is no other way. In addition to being the chief minister of the cabinet of the Zhao Kingdom, Pingyuan Jun is also the Zongzheng of the Zhao clan. He is also a good friend of Ma Fujun, the father of the current King of Zhao. In both public and private matters, Pingyuan Jun must bear this responsibility. Take responsibility.
Fortunately, since Pingyang Lord Zhao Bao's rebellion happened, most of Pingyuan Lord's affairs have been transferred to Lu Buwei. Although the things are complicated, they will not tire Pingyuan Lord.
What's more, Mr. Pingyuan seems to be enjoying it.
Of course, because of Pingyuan Jun's leadership, Zhao Kuo's vigorous concubine selection activities were controlled within a reasonable range. It did not bring much burden to Zhao State, but instead returned it to Zhao Kuo in winter. The country brought a touch of excitement.
More importantly, through this selection of concubines, Zhao Kuo has indeed won over several capable ministers such as Le Jian, and has taken a big step forward in the assimilation work between the two countries.
At the same time, Lu Buwei, who gradually replaced Lord Pingyuan, also started taking action in a timely manner.
Quietly, the officials in Han and Yan were exchanged with those in Zhao.
Youdao is an official who is made up of officials. Obviously, Lu Buwei also understands this deeply. If you want to truly integrate the two places, exchanging officials is the most important step.
Of course, Zhao Kuo's choice of concubine this time was not without its disadvantages.
The biggest disadvantage is that the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Qi, and Chu have sent letters of credence, wanting to marry Zhao.
This really worried Yu Qing, who was in charge of diplomacy.
reject?
How to refuse, and who to refuse?
Qin? Although there must be a battle between Qin and Zhao, Qin is still the only powerful country besides Zhao. What if Qin becomes angry after being rejected and sends troops? This is a serious diplomatic incident!
Although Zhao is not afraid of Qin, there is obviously no need to give Qin an excuse to send troops.
Chu State? Not to mention, the King has just been given a heavy gift. Chu State is the only country that has no territorial contact with Zhao State. It is also an ally that Zhao State must win over. If you refuse him, it is not your own fault. Looking for trouble.
Wei State? Although Zhao and Wei have become separated from each other with the fall of Han, and Wei must be afraid of Zhao Kuo's idea of unifying the three Jin Dynasties, as long as the moment of military confrontation has not yet come, Zhao will not be able to push Wei out.
Qi State? Needless to say, it is rare for Qi State, which has always been neutral, to express its stance. No matter what your thoughts are, you should not reject Qi State's good intentions.
But the problem is, if you want them all, it’s no different than not wanting them at all!
What do you want Yu Qing to do?
Yu Qing, who was helpless, could only leave this problem in the hands of Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo seemed very calm about this. Although it was a gift delivered to his door, Zhao Kuo knew that there was no free lunch in the world, so he rejected all marriage requests without any thought.
The reason is simple, but also sufficient: Zhao's court cannot accommodate so many forces.
Of course Yu Qing, who had been following Lord Pingyuan, understood what Zhao Kuo meant. With Zhao Kuo's reply, Yu Qing unceremoniously rejected all marriages.
However, in order to appease Chu, the only ally in the future, Zhao Kuo asked Lu Buwei to organize a batch of weapons and secretly sent them with the mission to Shouchun, the current capital of Chu.
Zhao Kuo's rejection naturally stung all the countries that requested marriage, but after learning that Zhao had rejected all marriages, several countries calmed down.
People are often like this.
If he was the only one who suffered a loss, he would blame everyone, but when he knew that he was not the only one who suffered a loss, he could calm down and stop crying and making trouble.
Of course, what is more important is that the current strength of Zhao State no longer allows any country except Qin State to act arrogantly.
Qin wanted to be presumptuous, but was not ready yet.
Yes, while the State of Zhao was busy selecting concubines for their king, the State of Qin in the west was silently accumulating strength - forming heavy cavalry.
As the next generation general of the Qin army, Meng Ao was appointed as the commander of the heavy cavalry without hesitation.
As the commander, Meng Ao first had to solve the problem of men and horses.
Human problems are easy to solve.
Taking advantage of the absence of farm work in the winter, a huge battle to select the front quietly began among the Qin army.
"Selecting the front", as the name suggests, selects the sharpest soldiers.
This is not a rare thing for the Qin army.
After all, the world-famous warriors of the Qin Army were selected from the selection of frontmen.
There are two levels in total to select Qin army warriors:
First, the physical level: on the basis of the Wei soldiers, they need to add a full armor, a wide dagger, a fine iron dagger and a cowhide shield, with a total weight of about eighty kilograms; (Wei soldiers' requirements : Wear armor of three attributes, wield a twelve-stone crossbow, bear fifty arrows, place a spear on top of it, wear a crown and a sword, win three days' food, and travel a hundred miles at noon.)..
Second, it is more technical: not only do you need to be proficient in infantry and cavalry combat, but you also need to be able to use various weapons and equipment such as swords, guns, swords and halberds in a decent manner, so that you can be both brave in individual combat and capable of fighting in a team. Integrate into the collective in collaboration.
Of course, the selection this time was for heavy cavalry, which was somewhat different from the selection of sharp warriors.
The physical fitness level of the first one is almost the same. After all, to be able to withstand armor weighing dozens of kilograms, it is obviously impossible without excellent physical strength;
The second technical level is quite different. Since they are cavalry, they naturally focus on fighting with them, not to mention that once they dismount and wear dozens of kilograms of armor, there is no possibility of fighting. In addition, in terms of weapons, they all prefer the use of long weapons such as spears and halberds.
Therefore, it can be said that the selection requirements for heavy cavalry are actually much lower than those for sharp soldiers.
This is of course normal. After all, the number of heavy cavalry set by the King of Qin was around three thousand, and the Qin Army's elite soldiers, even at their peak, were only worth a thousand.
With the Qin army's hundreds of thousands of troops, it was not difficult to select only three thousand people.
Moreover, because the Qin army already has a complete process for selecting forwards, it does not require too much involvement from Meng Ao. They just send out the requirements, and the generals of each army will organize the selection of leaders. After the personnel are roughly decided, Meng Ao will confirm and re-select them again.
Human problems are easy to solve, but horse problems are difficult.
There is no other way. To be able to carry hundreds of kilograms of weight and run wildly for more than two quarters of an hour under such a load, this is already an extremely good war horse.
Even among the Qin army, there are not many such war horses.
Of course, this has something to do with the fact that there are not many cavalry in the Qin army.
But since the army cannot select them, they can only think of other methods, such as screening them directly from the racecourse.
In today's Qin State, almost most of the war horses come from Yiqu.
Naturally, Meng Ao also brought people to this grassland.
However, a war horse that can meet Meng Ao's requirements is still a BMW even on the Yiqu grassland. How can the Yiqu people give it up so easily.
Even if they give up one or two horses, it will be fine, but what the Qin people want is all of them.
Inevitably, the Qin people and the Yiqu people clashed again, and a fight even broke out.
The increasingly violent situation, fueled by Zhao's secret guards, aroused the Yiqu people's hatred for the Qin people. Ordinary fights soon turned into organized and large-scale armed fights, and legitimate armed fights
Just when they were about to rush towards the road of rebellion, Wang Hao and his army appeared in time, instantly extinguishing the flames of all parties.
The result is self-evident. The Qin people, who controlled the entire state machine, suppressed this attempted rebellion almost effortlessly.
The Yiqu people not only lost dozens of men, but also almost all their BMWs.
Even the Qin people's supervision and oppression of the Yiqu people intensified with this failed rebellion.
The two ethnic groups, which were already in the process of merging, gradually became distinct again after this successful armed struggle.
What's even more terrible is that although the Qin people's senior generals such as Wang Lu also guessed that there would be Zhao people adding fuel to the flames, they had nothing to do about it.
Once the seeds of hatred are sown, they are no longer within human control.
The only good thing is that Yiqu Grassland is indeed an excellent grazing land, and the three thousand war horses were quickly raised.
Immediately, with the special approval of the King of Qin, the Qin people divided the most fertile grassland on the Yiqu Grassland specifically for the breeding and raising of heavy cavalry horses.
I don’t know whether to praise King Qin for his development vision or to angrily criticize King Qin for his narrow vision.
Call him narrow-minded, he even considered the continuity of the heavy cavalry; call him long-term, the act of dividing the grassland in this way is simply depleting the Yiqu Grassland.
Perhaps, in his eyes, Yiqu people were never Qin people!
Only with this statement can we understand this series of operations by King Qin.
Also in this confusing operation, Yiqu's people gradually became alienated.
The Zhao State here is trying its best to bring the newly attached land back to its heart, while the Qin State over there is exploiting their former compatriots without hesitation.
When it comes to making judgments, the gap between the two countries is gradually widening.
No matter what, Qin finally had the right people and war horses.
Finally, the armors for men and horses are naturally being made...
During the building process, Meng Ao and the heavy cavalry he selected did not delay at all, and started practicing heavy cavalry tactics using only stones.
Unfortunately, their drill seemed to run into problems soon...
