"Your Majesty, Lord Lifu has arrived outside the palace." A guard came in to report.
"Invite him in quickly." Zhao Kuo said happily.
"I have met your Majesty." After a while, Li Fu stepped into the hall, leaned over and said.
"Li Qing, do it quickly." Zhao Kuo stretched out his hand and said, then winked at the maid next to him, who stepped forward and made a cup of tea for Li Fu.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Fu bowed his hands, picked up the smooth tea cup and looked at it. He was a little surprised. This was the first time he had seen such smooth porcelain, just like jade.
Zhao Kuo had a smile on his face. This was the latest porcelain that Zhao had just fired. It was cyan in appearance, smoother, more delicate, lighter and thinner than the original porcelain.
Almost everyone will play with it like a chestnut after seeing it and can't bear to put it down.
Of course, from Zhao Kuo's perspective, this kind of porcelain is nothing at all. The craftsmanship level only reaches the level of ceramics from the Han Dynasty. It is incomparable to the various ceramics from the Tang and Song Dynasties, let alone the ceramics from the Qing Dynasty.
.
If you take out the glass from later generations, you can definitely sell it for a sky-high price.
Although there was colored glaze during the Warring States Period, there was no glass. Colored glaze was mostly formed by chance and could not be mass-produced, so it was very precious.
"If Li Qing likes it, I will give it to Li Qing later." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said very boldly.
Li Fu came back to his senses, was shocked, and said quickly: "It's too precious, I don't dare to accept it."
"Go and get two sets for Li Qing." Zhao Kuo said directly to the eunuch next to him.
After a while, the eunuch fetched two sets of porcelain, placed them in front of Li Fu, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty."
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"Li Qing, don't refuse." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Li Fu couldn't push it away, so he had to accept it. At the same time, some of the worries in his heart completely disappeared.
"Tell me about the harvest of the field soldiers." Zhao Kuo said.
He once forcibly ordered that no one should call the captives of the Yan State, but the soldiers of the Zhao State, in order to eliminate the gap between them and the Zhao State, and at the same time to increase these people's sense of identification with the Zhao State.
"Your Majesty, the weather has been good this year, and all the farmland cultivated by the field soldiers has achieved a bumper harvest," Li Fu said.
Zhao Kuo nodded and was not surprised. Intelligence showed that almost all countries in the Central Plains had a bumper harvest this year.
"Has the food been sent to Yan State ready?" Zhao Kuo asked.
Previously, Zhao Kuo promised to the captives of Yan State that he would send 20% of their annual grain harvest to Yan State and hand it over to their relatives. Now it is time to fulfill his promise.
"Your Majesty, the Minister of Food is ready. However, half of the farmland of the field soldiers is newly developed wasteland this year. Even if the year is good and there is a bumper harvest, the yield of these newly developed farmland is only nine dou per mu, less than one stone.
Therefore, there is not much food that can be transported to Yan State."
"The territory of the Yan State is extremely long and narrow, and there is a great loss of food along the way. There may not be much food left when it is delivered to the soldiers' homes. Especially in places like Liaodong and Liaoxi, which are thousands of miles away from Zhao, this food is not enough.
The loss on the road." Li Fei said with cupped hands.
"Since Li Qing raised it, there must be a solution." Zhao Kuo said.
"Your Majesty is wise, I heard that our State of Zhao has obtained a batch of sea ships from the State of Yue. I wonder if your Majesty can order the navy to use large ships to help us transport food to the State of Yan?" Li Fu said.
"I will give the order to Yuan Hua." Zhao Kuo nodded, "In addition, since 20% of the food is not enough, then increase it to 50%. Tell all the soldiers in the field, although their monarch is not willing to spend money to redeem them
, but I will never let their families go hungry. As long as they work well in Zhao, I will definitely let them return home after five years."
"By the way, Li Qing will arrange to write a letter home for all the soldiers in the field and send it back to the soldiers' homes together with the food. If any relatives want to reply to the letter, they can ask the people who sent the food to bring it back together. Well, this is the rule
It's settled. From now on, every summer and autumn harvest, the soldiers in the field can write letters home." Zhao Kuo said.
For Zhao Kuo, food was not important, what was important was the people's hearts. As long as he could win the hearts and minds of 200,000 captives, Zhao Kuo was willing to lose money.
Don't underestimate this part of the people's hearts. In the future, after Zhao State destroys Yan State, it will depend on this if it wants to quickly settle down.
What's more, during their free time in farming, these captives could build roads, renovate rivers, build river embankments, open up wasteland, etc., which would bring great benefits to Zhao State, not just farming.
No matter what, Zhao Kuo will not lose money.
If Zhao State could not afford to support so many people at that time, he would not have wanted to sell Qi State's prisoners to Qi State.
"Your Majesty is merciful." Li Fu leaned over and said.
"By the way, have you informed Yan State?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"The State of Yan has agreed to us sending food to the relatives of the soldiers, and promised not to confiscate this part of the food." Li Fu said.
This matter was a naked conspiracy for Yan State.
The State of Yan agreed, and the State of Zhao won the hearts and minds of the people of the State of Yan.
If the State of Yan does not agree, all the people will hate the State of Yan.
Therefore, Yan Guoming knew that Zhao State was taking this opportunity to win people's hearts, so he had to swallow this poisonous wine and promised that Zhao State would not collect agricultural taxes on this part of the grain.
"Li Qing will be responsible for this matter. I will arrange for people to go to Yan State with you. Remember, any liter of food must be personally delivered to the families of the soldiers by Zhao State. It must not be passed through.
The hand of the State of Yan. If your family encounters difficulties, you can give them more food."
"Don't be afraid of trouble, and don't be afraid of wasting food. All the food collected by the field soldiers is at Li Qing's disposal. If it is really not enough, you can tell me again," Zhao Kuo said.
This year, Zhao State has a bumper harvest, and other countries have also had bumper harvests. Zhao Kuo has been purchasing grain at market prices, and grain merchants have been continuously transporting grain from Qi and Chu regions to Zhao for sale.
According to the total amount of grain transported, Zhao Kuo also awarded titles one by one according to the original agreement.
South Korea and Wei also provided a lot of grain to Zhao. The two countries just used curved shaft plows and waterwheels this year. The time was too short and they have not been widely used. The increase in grain production is limited. Next year, the increase in grain production will be even more.
Zhao Kuo has ordered the construction of granaries in Handan, Daixian, Wuyang, Shangdang and Yecheng. Grain from nearby counties will be transported directly to the granaries to reduce losses on the road.
"I will definitely deliver every grain of grain to the relatives of the soldiers, and let them know that these grains are sent by me, the State of Zhao." Lifu said solemnly.
In his heart, he was not only grateful to Zhao Kuo, but also wanted revenge on the State of Yan. He wanted to let the State of Yan know the consequences of selling his chestnut belly to the State of Zhao!
"By the way, I have prepared a house for Li Qing in Handan. Li Qing can go and have a look first, and it won't be too late to go back in a few days." Zhao Kuo said.