Time soon came to the eighth year of Zhao Wangkuo.
At the beginning of the year, Zhao Kuo held a court meeting in Handan. In addition to the five princes and twelve ministers, the two governors and all the county guards came to attend the meeting.
The meeting determined that the development direction of Zhao State in the next five years will still be based on domestic economic construction, supplemented by external expansion. Roads in Yandi, Guanzhong, Hexi Corridor and other places must be constructed as soon as possible to integrate with Zhao State's hinterland Hebei.
The old coins in the hands of the people must be recycled as soon as possible and replaced with new unified coins. Weights and measures must also be unified as soon as possible. The same books and documents and carriages must be in the same track. In short, two systems are not allowed to appear in Zhao State.
Colleges and libraries in each county must be built and popularized as soon as possible. Townships can be temporarily abandoned. Zhao State cannot take care of them in a short time. However, each county must have a college and library, and teaching must use Zhao characters and
For Zhao Guohua, the relevant teaching materials must also use the teaching materials compiled by the imperial court, and the use of private teaching materials is not allowed.
There will be some resistance in this regard, but it is not as big as imagined. Except for Chu, the characters of the other six kingdoms of the Warring States Period are basically the same, with only a few variant characters being different.
It will not be said that all previous efforts have been in vain because of the need to popularize the Zhao script.
Of course, there is definitely an impact.
Since the Chu State has always been at a distance from the cultural circle of the Central Plains and was deeply influenced by the Southern Barbarians, its writing is more like a bird or an insect, and is quite different from the writing of other countries in the Central Plains.
As for the teachers, they were transferred directly from colleges across Zhao State.
Anyway, junior colleges only teach literacy and arithmetic, and those students who have graduated have relatively good grades and are good enough to take on this responsibility.
Then, the imperial court ordered that the enrollment quota of Handan College should be doubled this year. Each county can recommend some young and talented scholars to study in the college. If they are valued by famous scholars, they will have the opportunity to become teachers of famous scholars.
Not only that, the imperial court also issued a notice that Xunzi, Wei Wuji, Le Yi, Zhao Sheng and others who are famous all over the world will give lessons to the scholars in the academy, and even King Zhao may appear.
For a time, scholars all over the world were attracted to Handan Academy. If they were lucky enough to seize this opportunity, they would have twenty less years of struggle in the rest of their lives.
After several years of development, Handan College has become the cultural and academic center of the Central Plains. Fierce ideological collisions and technical confrontations occur every day in the college.
Xunzi's Fu style became very popular in the academy and was highly praised by many scholars. Everyone learned to use Fu to write prose and write down stories.
For a time, the trend of writing poems started in the Central Plains, from describing the four seasons to criticizing the government, and finally evolved into praising the State of Zhao and satirizing other countries.
Other countries are itching to get angry, but there is nothing they can do.
Zhao State's continuous years of light corvee and low taxes have made the people's lives much better. After having coal and cotton-padded clothes, Zhao State did not suffer any large-scale disasters this winter.
The first month had just ended, and work began in full swing across the Zhao Kingdom.
Zheng Guo led hundreds of thousands of people to manage the Liao River, Hetao was also finishing the water conservancy project, Yuan Hua led the fleet to start a long voyage again, and the Hexi Corridor was recruiting people to build roads everywhere.
"We are recruiting people to build roads. They will pay you fifteen cents a day. They will take care of the meals at noon. When you finish the work on the same day, you will be paid on the same day." Notices were posted in almost all the cities in Zhangye County, and there were even petty officials standing on the roadside, holding up a
The sign shouted.
As long as you sign up, someone will immediately take you to the construction site. It doesn't matter if you are illiterate, as long as you can work.
"Brother, how about we take the tribe over to build roads for the Zhao people." In the distance, a burly man turned back and said to the eldest brother.
They are not Zhao people, but Qiang people.
The Qiang people make a living by grazing. In the early spring of each year, the cattle, sheep and horses have been hungry all winter and are in heat. During the mating season, they need a lot of pasture. However, at this time, the pasture has just sprouted, and there is simply not enough for so many livestock.
of.
This time of year is when the nomads are at their weakest. Not only do they like to compete for pasture among themselves, but the Central Plains dynasties also like to take advantage of this time to attack them.
The Scimitar Qiang were one of the losers in the competition. As losers, they could only dedicate their fertile pastures to their enemies and lead their people to find new pastures.
However, the grassland is very large, and there are not many suitable pastures. Most of the pastures have owners. They searched for a month, but they still could not find a pasture for the tribe to recuperate. If they continue like this, they can only find a large tribe.
Departed.
However, after seeing Zhao Guo's recruitment promotion, Yuhun, the leader of the Scimitar Qiang II, had other ideas.
Rather than being annexed by other tribes, it is better to work for the Zhao State. The Scimitar Qiang has more than a thousand adult men anyway. Together they can earn a lot of money every day, which is enough to support the entire tribe. No matter what, it is better than defecting to other tribes.
Now they are still tribal leaders. If they defect to other tribes, they will be no different from those tribesmen.
"Will the Zhao people agree?" Dangling had some doubts. The relationship between the Qiang people and the Zhao people was not good.
"You'll know if you go and ask." Yuhun said and walked towards the city. After a while, he came to the registration place, "We are Qiang people and we also want to come here to build roads. Can we sign up?"
"Qiang people?" The clerk was a little surprised. This was the first time that a Qiang person wanted to sign up.
"Not bad." Yuhun nodded.
"Wait a moment, I have to report this to the county guard first." The clerk said with his fists clasped.
"I'll wait for you here." Yuhun said.
The clerk saluted, turned and walked towards the city, and soon arrived at the county governor's house.
"Qiang people are Qiang people. No matter who they are, as long as they come to work for my country, Zhao, accept them all and pay them on time. Don't deduct any money." Meng Ao heard the report, waved his hand and ordered.
This is a good thing for Zhao State. Not only can it increase its manpower, it can also divide the Qiang people, weaken their strength, and understand their situation.
"My subordinates think that this matter can be publicized more to attract more Qiang people to come down the mountain. I don't believe that such a large Qiang people are the only one who cannot survive. In addition, if the Qiang and Zhao people mix together to build roads,
It is inevitable that unnecessary friction will occur, and my subordinates suggested that the Qiang and Zhao people build roads separately and arrange for different personnel to manage them, so as to reduce conflicts between them."
"In addition, we can also send people to talk to these tribal leaders. If they are willing to surrender to our Zhao State and agree to our Zhao State's arrangement of officials to manage and the registration of households, our Zhao State can allocate a part of the pasture for them.
Herding. Your Majesty has said that for the Qiang people, you need to win over some people, suppress some people, and destroy some people. Now the tribes that are willing to show good will to our country, Zhao, are the ones we can win over," Wu Yu said.
There are many fertile pastures in the Hexi Corridor. It is not unacceptable to let the Qiang people graze, but the prerequisite is that the Qiang people become our own people.
"What Jun Cheng said makes sense. I'll leave the conversation with the Qiang people to Jun Cheng. Just tell me the result once you have it." Meng Ao nodded, "Recently, there has been some instability in the western part of the Hexi Corridor. The caravan reported that the Qiang people
The Qiang and Hu Qi often harassed the caravans and even sent troops to rob them, so I planned to lead the army to teach those Qiang and Hu cavalry a lesson."
"Should we report it to the imperial court and ask it to send troops? It's safer this way," Wu Yu said.
"You also know the character of the king. You will not fight an unprepared battle. You must fully understand the enemy's situation before sending troops to kill him with one strike. We are just leading the imperial army." Meng Ao said.
He never expected that his thousands of soldiers who had been trained for a whole winter could solve the problem, but as long as they were on the plains, he was not afraid of those Qiang cavalry.
Facts have proved that Meng Ao's idea was correct. These Qiang and Hu people were indeed no match for Zhao Jun.
In March, Meng Ao fought all the way from the east of the Hexi Corridor to the west of the Hexi Corridor. Along the way, the barbarians fled. Meng Ao did not stop until he reached a country called Loulan.
The Lord of Loulan quickly sent his ministers out of the city to sue for peace and prayed to Zhao Jun to let Loulan go.
Meng Ao had no intention of attacking Loulan originally, mainly because he couldn't defeat it. Although Loulan was a small country, it had a city to rely on, and he couldn't defeat it with just two or three thousand men.
So Meng Ao planned to lead his army back. At this moment, an unexpected acquaintance came out of Loulan City and found him.
It was none other than Zhao Mu, the younger brother of King Zhao and Shang Zhao Mu.
"I have seen General Meng Ao, and I dare to ask... Why is the general here?" Zhao Mu said strangely. If it weren't for the banner with the word "Zhao" fluttering in the wind in the army, he would have doubted whether Meng Ao had surrendered to Qin.
.
He remembered that the Hexi Corridor was clearly the territory of the Qiang people and the Qin State.
"Si Shang? Master... why are you in Loulan Kingdom?" Meng Ao looked at Zhao Mu in surprise.
"I led the caravan back and passed by Loulan to rest here for a day. Unexpectedly, I happened to meet the general." Zhao Mu said with a smile.
"Now the Hexi Corridor is the territory of our Zhao State. This matter has to be discussed from the year before last..." Meng Ao stretched out his hand and said, leading Zhao Mu to the military camp and ordering tea to be served.
"I didn't expect that so many things would happen in the Central Plains during my absence." Zhao Mu sighed with emotion.
"Young Master doesn't know that since you left, the King and the Queen Mother have been talking about you. The King often said that you should not be allowed to go to the Western Regions. Last autumn, the King sent a caravan to the Western Regions to look for the Young Master. I wonder if the Young Master has met him.
?" Meng Ao said.
Zhao Mu shook his head. The Western Region was a huge place, and the possibility of the two caravans meeting was extremely slim.
"By the way, please ask the general to send someone to tell the court that I have returned with my caravan. Also coming back is the envoy of the Maurya Dynasty, King Asoka's younger brother Asande. Let the court make some preparations." Zhao Mu said.
.
More than two years ago, he led a caravan to the west, visited many countries on behalf of Zhao State, and established contact with most of the countries. However, the strength of these countries was very weak. In the Central Plains, it was not even as good as the weakest Yan State, let alone the weakest State of Yan.
Not to mention comparing with Zhao State.
Until he came to the Mauryan Dynasty, it was an extremely powerful and prosperous country with a vast territory, a large population, and strong military strength. The monarch Ashoka was also an extremely wise monarch.
There, Zhao Mu was warmly received by King Ashoka. When King Ashoka learned that Zhao Mu had come to the Maurya Dynasty from the east thousands of miles away, he was extremely excited and pulled Zhao Mu to talk a lot.
Zhao Mu told King Asoka that he was from the Zhao State, which was an extremely powerful country, and there were six other countries as powerful as Zhao in the East.
Zhao Mu learned from King Asoka that the Mauryan Dynasty had just completed its unification and the country was not stable. It only relied on strong military strength to suppress the four parties.
In the Maurya Dynasty, Zhao Mu saw a military spirit army no less powerful than Zhao Feiqi.
According to Zhao Mu's speculation, the strength of the Mauryan Dynasty will definitely exceed that of the current Zhao State, but it should not be as strong as the Central Plains countries combined.
Zhao Mu stayed in the Maurya Dynasty for half a year, visited many places, and gained some understanding of some of the main cities and customs of the Maurya Dynasty.
The Maurya Dynasty, like the Zhao Kingdom, had the largest monarch. But the difference was that the religious forces of the Maurya Dynasty were also extremely powerful, led by Brahmanism and Buddhism, as well as Jainism, etc., and their influence penetrated into all aspects of the country, even
Can influence national decision-making.
The wise and powerful King Asoka not only did not think about weakening the power of religion, but allowed it to develop. He even helped Buddhism build pagodas and hold rallies.
This is absolutely impossible in the Central Plains.
No country in the Central Plains would allow religious forces to override royal power, let alone a generation of heroes.
During this process, Zhao Mu met Asoka's daughter and fell in love with each other. After Asoka learned about it, not only did he not object, but he actively brokered the matter and married his daughter to Zhao Mu.
In terms of identity, status, and ability, Zhao Mu is worthy of being a princess of the Mauryan Dynasty.
Half a year later, Zhao Mu resigned from King Ashoka and expressed his intention to return to the Kingdom of Zhao. King Ashoka proposed to send his younger brother Ashander as an envoy to represent the Maurya Dynasty to the Kingdom of Zhao. At the same time, he sent an army to escort Zhao Mu and others until they arrived at the border of the Maurya Dynasty.
.
With the scepters and documents of the Zhao State and the Mauryan Dynasty, no country dared to block him along the way. Zhao Mu entered the Western Region smoothly, went all the way east, entered the Loulan Kingdom, and then met Meng Ao...
"The envoy of the Maurya Dynasty..." Meng Ao was still a little confused.
"Brother Wang knows, the general just needs to report it. By the way, when you see the Mauryan Dynasty's envoy later, the general must not show any cowardice, and don't mention the recent events in the Central Plains countries," Zhao Mu said.
"Don't worry, young master. They are just barbarians. How can I, Meng Ao, show cowardice?" Meng Ao looked with disdain in his eyes. The Maurya Dynasty was nothing more than barbarians. How could it be compared with Zhao?
That is to say, the distance between the two countries is too far, otherwise he would hang up the Maurya Dynasty and beat him.
Zhao Mu returned to Loulan Kingdom. After saying goodbye to the Lord of Loulan Kingdom, he led the caravan to the military camp.
"This is Meng Ao, the governor of Zhangye County in our Zhao Kingdom. This is Ashande, the envoy of the Mauryan Dynasty, and this is my wife, Aliwa." Zhao Mu introduced.
"..." Meng Ao was stunned for a moment, you didn't say just now that you have a wife.
Besides, you have found a wife in a foreign country. Do the King and the Queen Mother know about it?