Not long after Zhao Kuo came back, Tian Shu came with his concubines to pay his respects.
Zhao Kuo was very satisfied with Tian Shu. She was beautiful, gentle, considerate, filial, and very intelligent. She managed the harem in an orderly manner and everyone respected her.
The master of the harem not only had to be in charge of the harem, but also helped Zhao Kuo deal with some inconvenient matters, such as getting close to the families of the ministers, understanding the situation at home, what difficulties they had, what help they needed, etc., so that the ministers would not be separated.
These are technical tasks that ordinary people cannot do. This is one of the reasons why ancient queens were able to hold some power and even emperors could not easily dethrone them.
Tian Shu had lived in the palace since she was a child. She was immersed in it and knew the ways of it. She was able to deal with it with ease. She quickly became familiar with the ministers' families, which saved Zhao Kuo a lot of worry.
Little Zhao Zheng had just learned to walk and did not want to stay in his mother's arms for a moment. Under the care of two palace maids, he stumbled towards Zhao Kuo on a pair of small tiger-head shoes.
Zhao Kuo picked up little Zhao Zheng, threw him into the air, and then caught him steadily, making the little guy giggle. After several times, he put him down and handed him to Bin to take care of.
"I congratulate your Majesty." Tian Shu stepped forward and bowed.
"Oh? How happy are you?" Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"This afternoon, Sister Ning felt a little unwell, so she invited Xiangzi to check. After Xiangzi diagnosed her, she informed Sister Ning that she was pregnant," Tian Shu said.
"It's true!" Zhao Kuo said in surprise.
"Yeah." An Ning nodded shyly, "Xiangzi said it's been about a month."
"Hahaha." Zhao Kuo was overjoyed. He hugged An Ning and gave her a kiss. Then he waved his hand and said excitedly, "I am ordering that everyone in the palace will be rewarded with one month's salary."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Have you told mother about this?" Zhao Kuo said as he walked inside.
I don’t know how many times Mr. Yan has been whispering in his ears these days that he wants a grandson. He wants a grandson. If he didn’t have a younger brother to block the gun for him, calluses would grow on his ears.
"I have already told my mother, who was very happy when she found out and gave me a lot of supplements." An Ning's face was filled with a happy smile.
"Just take good care of yourself."
That night, Mrs. Yan invited her son, daughter, and all her daughters-in-law over for dinner.
This time, Yan did not continue to preach to Zhao Kuo. Instead, she praised him and An Ning, then asked the other daughters-in-law to work hard, and then started to target Zhao Mu.
"Look at your brother, you will have a child soon. You don't even have a wife now. You have been homeless before. You have finally come back recently. Even if you can't get married, you must set the wedding date as soon as possible." Yan said without any doubt.
She doesn't have any big pursuits in her life. One of her sons has become the king of Zhao, and the other controls nearly half of the world's businessmen, which has completely exceeded her goals.
Her current expectation is that her second son will get married as soon as possible, give her some fat grandsons, spread the wings of the Zhao family, and her daughter will marry a good family, and she will be satisfied.
A hundred years later, I can still see Zhao She with a smile on my face...
"Yes." Zhao Mu lowered his head and was submissive. He didn't look shrewd or capable at all. If the group of salt merchants from Qi State knew that the leader who almost forced them to a dead end looked like this, they would probably not believe it.
Zhao Kuo almost laughed while holding it in. Yan usually lectured him, but today it was finally Zhao Mu's turn.
"And you, as the elder brother, don't you know how to take care of your brother? There are so many ministers in the Zhao Kingdom, and there are always women of the right age in the family, so you don't know how to make peace for your brother." Mrs. Yan glared at Zhao Kuo.
He glanced at it and said angrily.
"Yes." Zhao Kuo stopped laughing immediately and responded in a low voice. As expected, he couldn't sneer.
Even as the king of Zhao, he did not dare to talk back to his mother.
However, Zhao Mu has indeed reached the age of marriage. Late marriage and late childbearing are not popular nowadays. Common people usually get married at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Although nobles come later, they decide their wedding very early.
Already.
Generally speaking, with Zhao Mu's status, a woman usually has two choices, one is to be a noble in the country.
However, there are currently no nobles in Zhao State who must win over through marriage, so this is unlikely.
The other one is the Six Kingdoms, just like Zhao Sheng and Zhao Kuo, who are married to other countries in the Six Kingdoms except Qin.
Because in ancient times, people with the same surname were not allowed to marry, so Qin and Zhao would not marry.
The states of Qi and Wei have already been married to the state of Zhao, and the current relationship is relatively strong, so there is no need to go further.
There is no value in marriage in Yan State.
The only options left for Zhao Mu were South Korea and Chu.
Zhao Mu also knows this very well, so he has been avoiding this matter.
"Our country, Zhao, has not fallen to the point where we need to rely on marriage to win over other countries. If you have a woman you like, you can tell your brother that he supports you."
After the meal, Zhao Kuo and Zhao Mu came outside the palace. Zhao Kuo patted Zhao Mu on the shoulder and said.
"Thank you, Brother Wang." Zhao Mu said gratefully.
He understood that Zhao Kuo was just comforting him. Zhao Kuo was far from needing allies at present. Even Zhao Kuo wanted to marry Qi. How could he get rid of it, but he was still very grateful in his heart.
"What I said is true. The relationship between our country Zhao and Han Weichu is enough to last for five years. After five years, our country Zhao no longer needs allies." Zhao Kuo said confidently.
By that time, even if Zhao wanted allies, they would be gone.
Just like the Qin State in history, most of the time in the late Warring States Period was one versus six.
"Five years?" Zhao Mu murmured, secretly determined to help his brother achieve this goal.
…
Nothing major happened in the next period of time, and Zhao Guo gradually got on the right track.
Elites from all walks of life gathered in Handan to conduct research and compile books with the support of the government.
People in this period attached great importance to books. Making meritorious deeds and speaking out were ranked last. In the eyes of many people, only after completing meritorious service and establishing moral character can one be qualified to speak out.
Many Confucian scholars criticized Zhao Kuo behind his back, scolding him for not respecting etiquette and law, and violating the principles. They even scolded Xunzi and Yu Xin, who followed Zhao Kuo, and threatened to expel them from Confucianism. If it hadn't been for Kong Chuan and Kong Bin.
Descendants of Confucius are inevitably scolded.
The six countries deeply felt the threat that Zhao Kuo's move posed to them, so they set up checkpoints on the borders to prohibit domestic people from traveling to Zhao Kuo. At the same time, they added fuel to the flames behind the scenes, and the whole world reviled Zhao Kuo.
Later, Zhao Kuo said that you can write down any ideas you have. If you write the best ones, I, the State of Zhao, will print them and put them in Jixia Academy for the world to study. If you come to the State of Zhao, I, the State of Zhao, can also provide paper for everyone.
.
All the voices of criticism suddenly disappeared.
The world is full of praise for Zhao Kuo. Under the adulation of Confucian scholars, Zhao Kuo became a living saint, a pioneer of etiquette and the founder of civilization.