"I'm afraid there are no nobles in the entire Yan Kingdom who meet the general's requirements." Qin Yuan shook his head. Although the Yan Kingdom has been passed down for nearly 800 years, there are countless descendants of the Yan family.
But the virtue of a gentleman will be cut off in five lifetimes.
The vast majority of clans have long since broken away from the royal family and are no different from ordinary civilians. At most, they can just rest in the fields after finishing their farm work and sigh with emotion about the scenery of their ancestors.
The few remaining deep-rooted nobles were completely wiped out in a series of operations such as the Zi Zhi Rebellion, the destruction of Yan by Qi, the resurgence of King Zhao, and the regicide of Gongsun Cao.
Not to mention the great nobles, even the middle-level nobles in the Yan Kingdom don't have many. Compared with other countries, they are just a few kittens at most, not worth mentioning at all.
"Which families are mainly in the hands of the land in Jicheng?" Li Mu said in a deep voice. Since there are no big nobles, we can only attack the nobles who control the most land.
The State of Zhao needs to win over the common people of Yan, and the five thousand Yan troops who helped Zhao Jun open the city gate also need to be rewarded. Where do these lands come from? They can only come from the nobles of the State of Yan.
Of course, it is impossible for Li Mu to steal it directly from the nobles. We are being reasonable.
"Except for Guantian, the three nobles who occupy the most land are the Tian family, the Han family, and the Gu family. They are all nobles who have emerged in recent decades and have developed rapidly. Each family owns a large amount of land and servants."
Qin Yuan quickly said that although he did not live in Jicheng, the Qin family was not far from Jicheng, and Qin Yuan knew Jicheng well.
"Then we will start clearing the land from these three families and dividing the acres." Li Mu patted the table, wrote the words Tian, Han, and Gu on the paper, and began to investigate the information of the three families.
…
Back to more than a month ago, a fierce battle broke out between the Qin and Zhao armies on the banks of the Jishui River.
Le Yi led the Zhao army to break through the Qin army's Jishui defense line. Wang Hao led the remaining remnants of the army to flee south to Xingyang. At this point, he no longer dared to retreat. If he retreated further, the food road for the main force of the Qin army would be blocked by Zhao.
The army is broken.
At this time, Wang Hao felt unspeakable pain in his heart. He was a general who was good at attacking, but Le Yi turned him into a master of defense.
"General, the heads of Guizhou in the city look at us a little unkindly." Lu Buwei looked worried. Xingyang belonged to South Korea most of the time. During the long-term battle with the Qin State, almost every family in the city died at the hands of the Qin army.
, and had great hatred for Qin.
Moreover, after Qin conquered various places, it used violence instead of benevolent governance to engrave Qin's laws in everyone's hearts. Those who opposed Qin's laws were all demoted to slaves and concubines, so rebellions often occurred.
In the Qin State, about one-tenth of the slaves or concubines died unexpectedly every year. It can be said that as long as they were demoted to ministers, they would not be able to escape alive.
It is just a fantasy to want to escape the fate of being a subordinate by relying on military merit. There may not be one lucky person among a thousand people.
In the past, the system tailor-made by Shang Yang for the Qin State continued to expose its flaws as the Qin State expanded step by step.
Wang Hao also knew that the Qin State was unpopular with the people, so he used to camp outside the city to avoid conflicts with the local Guizhou leaders. But now the Qin army has almost been completely lost, with only a few defeated soldiers left. If he did not rely on city defense, the Zhao army would be alone.
The charge is gone.
"How about...kill them all!" Huan Ye made a gesture of wiping his neck and said viciously.
"No." Lu Buwei said immediately. Although he was only interested in profit, he was different from killers like Huan Jue. He still had some mercy in his heart. War was inevitable, but he did not want to see unnecessary killings.
"Since the military advisor proposed it, he must have already figured out a solution." Wang Hao asked.
"Drive them all out." Lu Buwei said.
Huan Ye curled his lips, what is the difference between driving all these people out and killing them directly? Without food, it was as if they could survive.
The people of the Six Kingdoms are indeed hypocritical. They have clearly learned the Confucian saying of "a gentleman lives far away from his cook".
If you are truly benevolent and can't bear it, don't eat meat.
Since you have eaten it, don't show off that you are kind-hearted and don't want to kill any living thing.
What's the difference between eating delicious food but using the excuse of being "far away from the kitchen" to rob oneself completely?
The poor thief who stole the clock was laughed at for so many years.
"Then expel them." Wang Hao was silent for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"I heard that Zhao Jun is gathering the heads of Guizhou. We can delay Zhao Jun by expelling the heads of Guizhou from Xingyang City. In a few days, our reinforcements will arrive. When the reinforcements arrive, we can rely on Xingyang to hold on, even if Le Yi
"It's not that easy to capture Xingyang." Lu Buwei seemed to understand Huanjue's thoughts and explained.
He is not as thick-skinned as Confucianism. Even if these people are expelled and Zhao Jun is there to gather them outside, most of them will survive.
As for what to do if Zhao Jun doesn't accept it, then just wait and be scolded together with Qin Jun.
If Zhao Jun never looked at these Guizhou leaders from beginning to end, no one would scold Zhao Jun.
But if the Zhao army gathered people from all over the country, it would turn a blind eye to the people in Xingyang, causing most people to starve to death.
Lu Buwei was sure that Zhao Jun would definitely be scolded along with Qin Jun.
"Why did the Zhao army gather the heads of Guizhou?" Wang Lu said strangely. After so many years of fighting, this was the first time that he had seen military rations given to the heads of Guizhou to eat, or to the heads of Guizhou from other countries.
If anyone else had done this, Wang Lu would definitely think that the other person was a fool, but it was Le Yi who did it.
"Guizhou is also a kind of resource. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the taxes collected by the state all come from Guizhou." Lu Buwei said.
"Then why did the Qin State drive away all the local Guizhou leaders after conquering some places?" Wang Lu asked.
"On the one hand, in order to reduce hidden dangers, these Guizhou ancestors have lived here for generations. They have deep feelings for their homeland and have great opinions on our Qin State. By driving them away and moving people from the country, we can quickly integrate this place into the Qin State. On the other hand, we can
, Our Qin State implements a military merit system, and this system requires a large amount of land to maintain. If the people on this land are not driven away, our Qin State will have no land to allocate to the soldiers who have performed meritorious services." Lu Buwei said.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This is the drawback of the military merit system, but it should be said that it is the drawback of Qin's law.
The military merit system is the food in front of the donkey, attracting the donkey to move forward, while Qin Law is the whip on the donkey's back, driving the donkey forward.
If there is no food to tempt the donkey in front, the donkey will have no choice but to turn around and bite people if it is whipped too hard.
In order to make the donkey obey, Qin had no choice but to continuously expand its borders and acquire land.
Of course, there is another way for the Qin State, which is to change the harsh Qin Law to make it less harsh and give the donkeys a breath of relief.
The donkeys on this land are the most docile donkeys in the world. As long as they have food to eat and are not hungry to death, they will not jump up and bite people.
But this is impossible.
Qin Fa gave Qin the most advanced blood-drawing system. He was able to accurately draw the blood of all the people into the treasury without starving the people to death. This allowed Qin to accumulate far more blood than the six countries in the same time.
wealth.
Once you are used to seeing a donkey pulling ten mills a day, you would never want it to pull only nine mills a day.
If you are used to seeing a donkey eating only one pot of bran every day, you will never replace it with soybeans or give it a second pot of bran.
Qin Guo's only thought was how to make the donkey eat only half a pot of bran every day and pull enough for eleven plates of mill.
Because of Fan Ju's existence, Lu Buwei was never able to obtain the rights he wanted, and it also gave him more time to observe Qin and think about Qin's system.
Qin seems to be powerful, but in fact it can see the end at a glance.
If we do not change it, we will either perish in the hands of the enemy or perish in our own hands.
However, Lu Buwei did not tell King Qin Ji about this.
If Qin Wangji was twenty years younger, he might still have the ability and courage to change all this. Now Qin Wangji will just put all his chips on a war.
Qin Wangji's eyes were already obscured by his imagined victory.
"If that's the case, then why does Zhao have so much land?" Wang Lu asked strangely.
"The State of Zhao is different from the State of Qin. Although the State of Zhao has a military merit system, its past military merit system was not perfect. The latest military merit system was implemented only a few years ago. Therefore, the State of Zhao has enough land to reward its officers. On the other hand, our Qin State,
It has been a full hundred years since Shang Yang's reform, and almost all the land that can be rewarded has been awarded."
"Second, the Zhao State regained the Hetao a few years ago and immigrated from Hebei. There is a large amount of vacant land in Hebei and the Hetao. This land alone is enough to support the Zhao State's military power for decades. Not to mention the resettlement of these Guizhou leaders.
, even if it increases ten times, Zhao Guo can still accommodate them. Moreover, what Zhao Guo gave them must be part of the cultivated land and part of the uncultivated land. In addition, the same title was awarded by Zhao Guo.
The land is much less than that of Qin, but the money is much more. Obviously, King Zhao also understood that the land would be divided sooner or later, so he reduced the land reward and replaced it with money." Lu Buwei said.
Among the six kingdoms, the one he paid most attention to was Zhao.
It is not only the strength of the State of Zhao, but also because when he was on a mission to the State of Zhao, King Zhao said to him, "I will support your wife."
Although he was asked to tell it to Wang Sunchu, this sentence was deeply engraved in Lu Buwei's mind, and he felt deeply ashamed.
He vowed to take revenge on King Zhao, so he studied King Zhao and the country of Zhao every day.
If you study too much, you will inevitably compare Zhao and Qin together.
The more he compared it, the more Lu Buwei felt that the Qin State's system had little hope. It looked like flowers and flowers, but in fact, it was boiling in the fire. Sooner or later there would be thunder, and once there was thunder, it would be completely hopeless.
"So... Zhao State has the capital to lose because they have extra land, but our Qin State does not. Is that so?" Wang Hao was silent for a moment and looked at Lu Buwei.
He suddenly felt that the burden on his shoulders was a little heavier.
"No. Zhao State can't afford to lose either. Zhao State's short reform period is an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage. Although Zhao State has extra land, its reforms have not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Once the front line is defeated, the country will be shaken, and everyone will
Questioning the correctness of the reform. By then, the situation of Zhao State will not be much better than that of Qin State." Lu Buwei said.
"No wonder the king must fight this battle." Wang Hao murmured.
This is to gamble the national destiny of Qin State with that of Zhao State. The winner will be qualified to dominate the world, and the loser will withdraw forever.
Lu Buwei said nothing. He was not optimistic about this battle because Qin Wangji was impatient.
In the past, every time Qin launched a war, it would put diplomacy ahead of the war.
Win over all countries that can be won over, cut off all foreign aid to the target, and then concentrate on killing the target.
But this time, Qin failed to drive a wedge between Zhao and Han Wei, and put war ahead of diplomacy. Although it managed to win over Yan and Qi in time, by this time the Qin army had been defeated on both fronts, and its only hope was in
Bai Qi can turn the tide.
The most correct thing for Qin to do is to slowly accumulate strength, then wait for Zhao to launch a war, and unite the other five countries to jointly attack Zhao.
In the final analysis, Qin Wangji is old, and Zhao Wang is in his prime, Qin Wangji is afraid that he will not be able to wait for that day...
"If the king could be twenty years younger..." Lu Buwei sighed.
…
On the other side, the Zhao army pursued the Qin army all the way to Xingyang. After seeing the Qin army fleeing into Xingyang, they began to set up camp ten miles outside the city.
"I just got the news that Yan and Qi have declared war on Zhao. Qin has sent troops to capture Yewang and is attacking Shangdang." In the camp, Le Yi told everyone the news just sent from Handan.
"How many troops did Yan and Qi send? Where did they attack?" Yan Zhou asked quickly.
"Should we withdraw our troops?" Jia Yan asked.
Xunzi and others also frowned. They did not expect that Yan and Qi would dare to declare war on Zhao, especially Qi. In the past few years, the Queen Mother of Qi has been in power, and it can be said that she has not cultivated military preparations.
"Don't worry, everyone. Your Majesty has sent Lian Po, Pang Nuan, and Li Mu to lead the troops to fight against the Three Kingdoms. As for why Qi State declared war on our Zhao State, you will know after reading it." Le Yi handed the letter to Xunzi.
"This was not done by the State of Qi. It was either the State of Qin or the State of Chu." Xunzi shook his head and said after seeing the Qi people slaughtering the entire Zhao State.
He had met the Queen Mother of Qi and the King of Qi. Both of them were very weak in character and could not do such a thing.
Besides, if Qi wants to attack Zhao, it doesn't need to be so troublesome. Just like Yan, it can be done under the banner of recovering lost territory.
Doing so will only completely anger Zhao Guo.
There must be someone who wants to provoke a conflict between Zhao and Qi.
However, Xunzi could not guess from a letter whether it was Qin or Chu that was behind it.
A war breaks out between Zhao and Qi, and both Qin and Chu can benefit from it.
"The King of Chu and Lord Chun Shen don't look like such people." Gongsun Long was a little unsure, "And as far as I know, Chu State has been attacking Lu State before. Even if it provokes a conflict between Zhao State and Qi State, from which
Profits should wait until after the annexation of the Lu State. However...it does not rule out that the Chu State is trying to confuse the public. A Lu State can be destroyed at any time for the Chu State."
"No matter who dares to kill my entire Zhao country, I will slaughter his entire family." Le Cheng said in a deep voice.