Of course, Lin Xiangru also admitted that in the long run, Zhao Kuo's approach was correct.
The true unity of the world is not just the unity of force, but the unity of politics, culture, beliefs, language, writing, and systems in all aspects.
When the State of Zhao annexed the State of Yan, the people of the State of Yan would not immediately become the people of the State of Zhao. Only when they recognized the State of Zhao in their hearts and considered themselves to be the people of the State of Zhao, would they become true people of the State of Zhao.
This requires a long time span and will never be achieved overnight.
The various policies of Zhao State are to speed up this time.
But...that's all for the future!
If this continues, Zhao will soon encounter its first food crisis since the Reform.
"I hope Mr. Pingyuan can bring good news." Lin Xiangru sighed.
Some time ago, he wrote to Lifu, hoping to transfer a batch of grain and grass from Hetao, but Lifu complained.
Hetao has not collected a grain of tax from the people in the past few years. All the grains are cultivated by Li Fu and his captives, or bought from the people with money. In addition to supporting the construction of various large-scale projects such as water conservancy, cities, and roads,
We also need to support the frontline war.
Without asking for support from the imperial court, Lifu had already performed exceptionally well in recent years. Where could he find the food and grass to support the imperial court?
However, Lin Xiangru did not wait for Lord Pingyuan's food, but received shocking news.
The Qin army fought outside the city!
In the evening, Lin Xiangru had been dealing with government affairs for a day and was about to get up and go home, while chatting happily with others. Just now, the servant at home came to report that his eldest grandson's daughter-in-law was happy. In a few months, the Lin family will have four generations under one roof!
People around him congratulated him one after another, and Lin Xiangru's face was also flushed.
Lin Xiangru had two dreams in his life. One was that the State of Zhao would become rich and powerful in his own hands, and the other was that the old Lin family would blossom and spread in his hands.
Now that both of them have been basically realized, even when faced with the previous monarchs and ancestors of the Zhao Kingdom, I can straighten my back and say sternly, I, Lin Xiangru, have not brought shame to the Zhao Kingdom and ancestors.
"Prime Minister, Prime Minister is in trouble, Qin is coming!" At this moment, a guard rushed in from outside in a panic.
All the sounds in the political hall stopped suddenly, and all eyes were focused on the guard, who was so frightened that he lowered his head with guilt, even though he was not lying.
Lin Xiangru turned his face stiffly, looked at the guard, and asked uncertainly: "What...did you just say? I didn't hear clearly."
"Xiangguo, it's true, the Qin army has already reached the outside of the city." The guard said urgently. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it, but the facts are right in front of him!
"How is this possible?" Lin Xiangru said in disbelief with the corners of his mouth trembling slightly.
A few days ago, Zhao Kuo sent him a good news, saying that he had defeated the Qin army and killed Qin general Wang Lu and Ranghou Wei Ran.
He also told him that if he persisted for a while, he would return to the country when Qin was completely defeated.
As a result, the Qin army has now reached outside Handan City?
So what's the deal with the good news?
"How dare I deceive the Prime Minister? Go and see." The guard said with a grimace.
"Prepare the car." Although Lin Xiangru still found it difficult to accept it, he immediately got up and walked outside. The guards did not dare to deceive him.
Yu Xin, Kong Bin and others looked at each other and saw the solemnity and confusion in each other's eyes, and followed them one after another.
When Lin Xiangru and others arrived at the top of the city, their hearts went cold. They saw the Qin army in the dark outside the city, with flags fluttering and murderous intent rising to the sky.
Judging from the scale, there are at least 40,000.
At this time, there were only more than a thousand guards left in the entire Handan City to guard the four city gates and the royal palace, not even an organized regiment.
Except for the armies in the hands of Lian Po and Li Mu, all the armies of Zhao State are on the front line!
The city gates of Handan were already closed. The Zhao soldiers held weapons in their hands and looked at the Qin army under the city with vigilance. When they saw Lin Xiangru and others, they instantly had a backbone.
"Prime minister, Sikou, internal history..." The soldiers saluted one after another.
"We are facing a powerful enemy, so there is no need to be polite." Lin Xiangru waved his hand, then pointed at the Qin army under the city, "Have you ever sent someone to negotiate?"
"Zi Xiangguo, no." said the hundred-man general responsible for guarding the city gate.
"Let's beat the drum and recruit all the strong men in the city to defend the city!" Prime Minister Lin ordered.
There is a big drum on each of the four walls of Handan. Once it is beaten, it means that Handan is being attacked by foreign enemies. All adult men in the city must unconditionally obey the government recruitment and participate in defending the city or carrying supplies.
When necessary, all grain, grass and materials will be managed by the government.
Of course, it has not reached this level yet.
"This Qin army... I'm afraid it's the Qin army in Hanoi." Yu Xin looked at the Qin army and said thoughtfully.
"You mean, the Qin army deceived General Lian Po and fought from Hanoi to Handan?" Lin Xiangru asked.
Yu Xin nodded: "The main force of Qin is at war with the king. Guanzhong is empty. Only the Qin army in Hanoi can directly attack Handan."
"No, if this Qin army is the Qin army in Hanoi, once General Lian Po discovers their plot, he can directly cut off the Qin army's food route. Even if General Lian Po does not discover their plot, we can still write a letter to tell Lian Po
General Po, in such a short time, the Qin army has no time to retreat." Kong Bin said strangely.
"What if these 40,000 Qin troops are abandoned?" Yu Xin said.
"Sikou, please stop joking. Who would treat an army of 40,000 as an abandoned son? Hahaha, then he must be the best in the world..." Kong Bin smiled and suddenly stopped, "What do you mean..."
"Yes, Qin's purpose is to force the king to retreat. As long as the king can be forced to retreat, it doesn't matter how many of the 40,000 troops can return alive." Yu Xin said.
"...What if Qin loses the bet?" Kong Bin said in a deep voice.
"The Qin State must feel that our Zhao State is empty. Even if they lose the bet, these 40,000 troops will not lose too much. However... they have misjudged the strength of our Zhao State after all!" Yu Xin's mouth showed a trace.
sneer.
It is true that Zhao State is empty in the country, but Zhao State is not without any strength!
"I will write a letter to Lian Po and tell him about this." Lin Xiangru said, without even wasting time, he immediately ordered someone to get pen, ink, paper and inkstone and started writing the letter.
"The problem now is not how to defend the city, but how to defeat the Qin army. Handan College, cement factories, farm experimental fields, workshops, and a lot of various processing plants are all outside the city, and there is no room for any losses." Yu Xin.
Said in a deep voice.
Yu Xin had no worries about guarding Handan. Even though Handan City did not have an organized legion, it could recruit at least tens of thousands of strong men.
Not to mention the mere 40,000 Qin troops outside the city, even if there were another 100,000, Yu Xin was confident of defending for several months.
But if the Qin army is unable to attack for a long time and targets the workshops outside the city, Zhao will be in trouble.
If any workshop or processing plant is destroyed, it will be a huge loss for Zhao State, let alone Handan College, cement factory, etc.
Handan Academy has gathered almost half of the famous people in the world, as well as thousands of students. These are Zhao Kuo's hopes. If anything goes wrong, they will not have any face to face Zhao Kuo.
"I heard that when the builders were building Handan Academy, they used all available defense methods, so there shouldn't be any problems." Kong Bin said hesitantly.
"What good idea does Sikou have?" Lin Xiangru looked at Yu Xin.
"Tune Wu'an Jun south. At the speed of the Great Wall Army, we can reach Handan in about three days. Even if there are 100,000 Qin troops outside the city, they will not be Wu'an Jun's opponent." Yu Xin said murderously.
Zhao's Great Wall Army has always been defending foreigners in the north and has never fought in the Central Plains. In the battle to destroy Yan, the Great Wall Army had no chance to take action, so many people have forgotten that Zhao still has such a force.
A powerful army.
Yu Xin felt that it was necessary for all the countries in the Central Plains to experience how magnificent the Great Wall Army was when it destroyed the Xiongnu cavalry, smashed the Kunlun God, and captured the Donghu King!
Lin Xiangru did not agree immediately.
Yu Xin was right. As long as Li Mu went south, the Qin army outside the city was no match for him.
But he has his own concerns.
As the prime minister, he already holds political power, and is second only to the king of Zhao. If he is tainted with military power, all monarchs will be afraid.
This is also the reason why Lin Xiangru clearly had the right to mobilize troops, but never used it. Even in his letter to Lian Po, he told him about the matter instead of giving a direct order.
Just to avoid contamination with military power.
Lin Xiangru understood that even if Zhao Kuo knew about this, he would not mind at all.
But this is only now, what about the future?
Who can guarantee the future?
"I will send Li Mu south now." Lin Xiangru struggled for a long time and finally decided to send troops.
Even if he is liquidated in the future, he will admit it, at least he can't live with it in his conscience.
If he refuses to mobilize troops now and causes Zhao to suffer losses, he will live in condemnation and guilt for the rest of his life.
"Actually, you think it's complicated. We can use the golden eagle to send a message to the king, requesting the king for an order, and then use the golden eagle to send the king's order to Mr. Wu An. It will only delay half a day at most." Yu Xin said.
Compared with the previous transmission speed, half a day was already very fast. It took more than half a day for the Qin army to prepare the siege equipment. Maybe Li Mu had started to reorganize his army and moved south, and the Qin army had just started to attack the city.
"You didn't tell me earlier, and you made me struggle for a long time." Lin Xiangru's face was stern.
"Actually, I prefer you to mobilize troops directly. After all, half a day is still time." Yu Xin looked at Lin Xiangru very seriously.
"Sigh." Lin Xiangru sighed deeply, suddenly missing Wei Wuji in his heart. If Wei Wuji was here, he wouldn't have to worry about this kind of thing.
After a while, Lin Xiangru's eyes gradually became firm, exuding wisps of murderous intent, and said in a deep voice: "I will send my troops south first, and then I will send a letter to the king. Qin Army, huh, you wait for me!"
"Prime Minister, a lot of people have come down from the city. After learning that Prime Minister is here, they will definitely ask to see them." At this time, another soldier came up to report.
"A lot of people? Let them come up." Lin Xiangru frowned, but decided to meet them first.
After a while, a large number of people came up from the city. There were wealthy businessmen in silk and satin, hawkers pushing carts, farmers in coarse cloth and gege clothes, and ordinary craftsmen. Everyone looked excited. After seeing Lin Xiangru,
, all bent down to salute.
"I am Lin Xiangru? Do you want to see me if you have something to do?" Lin Xiangru asked.
Everyone looked at me, and I looked at you, but no one was willing to step forward. Finally, a young man in brocade clothes stood up, clasped his fists and asked, "I dare to ask the Prime Minister, but the Qin army has already reached the outside of the city?"
"Not bad." Lin Xiangru nodded.
"In this case, then I have no problem. On behalf of the Wen family, I, Wen Yan, donated ten thousand stones of food, hundreds of horses, and millions of dollars. In addition, all the adult men of our Wen family will be at the disposal of the government.
Even if you risk your life, you will never back down." The young man said solemnly.
"I want to donate too. I don't have that much money and food. I can only donate one thousand dan." said the vendor pushing the cart.
"My family doesn't farm and we all buy food, so I won't donate food. However, I can donate 50,000 yuan. In addition, I can help the government build weapons for free," said a craftsman.
"Hahaha, since everyone has said so, it would be a bit unreasonable if our Zhuo family didn't express our opinions. On behalf of the Zhuo family, I, Zhuo Su, donated 5,000 shi of salt, 100,000 shi of grain, 500 horses, and money to the government.
Two million. If the war takes more than a month, our Zhuo family will find a way to get some more supplies." An old man in Chinese clothes slowly walked out of the crowd.
"The same goes for my Guo family." Immediately afterwards, Guo Zong, another wealthy businessman in the Zhao Kingdom, also walked out.
In the past, the Zhuo family and the Guo family were only forced to take refuge with Zhao Kuo due to the strength of the Zhao state. At the same time, they also had the mentality of losing money to avoid disaster.
As time went by, the two families relied on the Zhao State and the Chamber of Commerce worked together to develop faster and faster. Their sphere of influence not only broke through the Zhao State, but even broke through the Central Plains. It reached Donghu in the north, Nanling in the south, and Nanling in the east.
From the sea to the west to the western regions, there are shadows of their chamber of commerce everywhere.
The Zhuo family and the Guo family have long been inseparable from the State of Zhao.
At the same time, as the family continues to grow and develop, the two families are becoming more and more afraid. They are just ordinary businessmen with nothing but money.
Only money, no power, means that the Zhuo family and the Guo family are just fat sheep, and any family with power can manipulate them at will.
The Zhuo family and the Guo family are also looking for a way out, helping their own children to climb up the ladder, and at the same time supporting some more talented students but poor families.
And wanted to seek refuge with the top leaders of Zhao State and protect them at critical moments.
But the top leaders of the Zhao Kingdom cannot be bought by them with money. To that extent, money is really just an external possession. More or less does not make any difference. What they pursue is fiefdom, reputation, and immortality.
These are not things that the Zhuo family and the Guo family can provide.
Zhao Mu, the only person they could rely on, has also disappeared for a year or two. No one knows where he is now, or even whether he is dead or alive.
They are afraid!
Fortunately, they finally had an opportunity. The Qin army reached Handan. Zhao State encountered difficulties and it was time for them to contribute.
The Zhuo family and the Guo family did not hesitate to donate a large amount of money and food to Zhao.
That is to say, the Qin State sent troops suddenly, and the two families had no preparations. They could only scrape together so much money and food at one time, otherwise they would have spent many times more.
