When Zhao attacked Yan and Qi, Wei was not idle either.
The Wei army invaded Bashu, destroyed Ba and Shu, and made Wei's strength also soar.
In this way, among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, only three countries remained in Wei, Zhao and Chu.
Among them, Zhao State was the strongest because Zhang Beichen vigorously developed agriculture, followed by Chu State and Wei State.
No one of these three heroes has the ability to annex each other for the time being, so the three parties began to develop in their own territory tacitly, waiting for the opportunity.
...
Zhang Beichen returned to normal life and began to think about the subsequent battle for hegemony.
If normal development continues, relying on the developed agriculture of Zhao State at this time, the national strength will inevitably surpass that of Wei State and Chu State.
But the problem is that Wei and Chu also occupied a lot of territory, and developed rapidly and Zhao became bigger. If the two countries joined forces, Zhang Beichen would not be sure to deal with the two countries at the same time.
Because Wei Yao is too familiar with him and knows his routines and moves. The King of Chu is too fierce and he doesn't take charge of himself, and the other generals can't stop the King of Chu at all.
"War is certainly feasible, but using the strategy will be faster and better." Zhang Beichen began to think about how to use the resources in his hands to destroy the two powerful countries!
"What is the biggest advantage of Zhao State at this time? It is population, economy, and ultimately, it is food!"
"In this agricultural society, food is everything! After so many years of agricultural development, Zhao State has been able to supply the whole world!"
"With food, you can also defeat others without fighting." Zhang Beichen thought of food wars. In this era, although monarchs from all countries attached importance to agriculture, few people thought of using food to fight wars.
Therefore, Zhang Beichen began to further promote and reform agriculture, and further increased the grain output of the states of Qin, Yan and Zhao.
Therefore, the population of Zhao State is also increasing rapidly.
[The strength of Zhao State grew rapidly. Seeing this, King Wei and King Chu formed an alliance to resist Zhao State together.]
What Zhang Beichen expected still happened. When the world is three points, it will inevitably be the weak and the weak unite to resist the strong together.
...
In the palace of King Zhao, Zhao Yun summoned all the ministers to discuss how to deal with the alliance between Wei and Chu.
Fei Jian suggested: "The king, I think it can be divided into two countries. In the Wei Kingdom, the office is strong. The members of the office headed by Gongzijiu are greedy and profitable. We can give them gifts to them to destroy the Wei Kingdom and Chu Kingdom.
The alliance of the country. In addition, the old nobles in Bashu were also dissatisfied with the King of Wei. We can secretly support them in restoring the country and create unrest for the Wei country."
"As for Chu, we can also use money and jewelry to buy Chu nobles and support the power to oppose the King of Chu. In this way, Wei and Chu will inevitably have internal chaos and cannot devote all their energy to deal with us!"
"This is very good!" Zhao Yun agreed very much.
Fei Jian continued, "When the Wei and Chu are in chaos, we will lead our troops to attack! Defeat the two countries in one fell swoop!"
"Zhang Qing, what do you think?" Zhao Yun asked Zhang Beichen for his opinion.
Zhang Beichen said: "I agree with what Fei saw in the first half, but I don't agree with the second half."
"Please give me advice." Fei Jian looked at him.
Zhang Beichen said: "It is necessary to alienate the countries. In addition, we can use the food of Zhao to make the Wei and Chu collapse directly!"
"Oh, can grain have this effect?" Zhao Yun said in surprise, "Please explain in detail Zhang Qing!"
Zhang Beichen explained: "Now the food in Zhao State is enough to support the people of the world! Our food is piled up in the barn and rotten, so many merchants will go in and out of various countries and sell the food in Zhao State to various countries in exchange for cloth and livestock.
, weapons and other things.”
"We can lower the price of food and sell it in Wei and Chu for a large amount of other materials, such as elk and weapons from Chu; cloth, copper and iron ore from Wei, etc."
Fei Jian puzzledly: "Prime Minister, since we have so much food, why don't we control the price of food to rise, but instead let it sell it at a low price? Isn't this giving food to both countries for nothing?"
"Yes! I just want to send them food!" Zhang Beichen said affirmatively.
"Ah?" Everyone was even more puzzled.
Zhang Beichen continued to explain: "We sell a large amount of grain to Wei and Chu at a low price, so that the grain of Wei and Chu is worthless. At the same time, we buy other items from these two countries at a high price.
”
"You think, if you are from Wei or Chu, are you willing to grow food, or raise elk, silkworms and weave cloth?"
Xinnan said: "Of course, you can make any more money!"
"Yes!" Zhang Beichen affirmed, "As long as a large number of farmers and nobles in these two countries give up farming, they will inevitably begin to rely on our country's food!"
"As long as this dependence reaches a certain level, the lifelines of these two countries will be in our hands. At that time, aren't we allowed to control it?"
After Zhang Beichen explained, everyone's eyes lit up.
Fei Jian took a deep breath and sighed: "Killing people without blood, destroying the country without military force. The Prime Minister's plan really makes people shudder!"
"The Prime Minister is really a genius!" The ministers flattered them one after another.
No one has used this strategy in this time and space. Because there has never been such a sufficient amount of food in various countries!
Even in those powerful countries, the annual food can only be enough for the people to fill their stomachs!
Zhang Beichen has achieved this situation by improving planting technology and improving crop varieties, using hybrid technology to increase grain output several times.
...
After listening to Zhang Beichen's story, Zhao Yun was also very excited. She had never thought that this could be used to destroy other countries!
She immediately started to implement it.
Zhao Yun first asked Fei Jian to bribe the nobles of Wei and Chu, and let them cause trouble in the two countries and hinder the alliance between Chu and Wei.
Secondly, let Xinnan start training the army to prepare for the future war.
Finally, he gave all the domestic agricultural and economics collection to Zhang Beichen and asked him to let go of it.
...
Zhang Beichen did not directly start selling food at a low price, so as not to be aware of the wise men of the two countries.
He first created a character for himself!
[You began to sing with King Zhao and King Qin every night, have a corruption in life and a luxurious style. You have repeatedly embezzled the money from the treasury to buy luxury goods such as land, mansions, horses, etc. for yourself. You will show it to the secret agents of Wei and Chu.
, Everyone in the world thinks you are addicted to enjoyment, luxury and corruption.]
After Zhang Beichen created a degenerate personality for himself, he began the formal operation.
[You asked King Zhao for the power to manage the national granary. In order to meet your luxury needs, you began to "secretly" sell Zhao's grain at a low price.]
...
Wei State, in the grain shop in Daliang.
It was the autumn harvest season again, and landlords from Wei came to sell grain.
"What? The price of food this year is only half of last year? You are a black store!" The landlord was furious and shouted loudly.
The grain store owner said helplessly: "Your misunderstanding, not only my store, but all grain stores this year purchase grain at this price!"
"Absurd!" The landlord didn't believe it, "If it were this price, I would not only not sell the food, but also buy a few trucks to take it back!"
The grain shop owner quickly said, "If you buy grain, no matter how much you buy, I have it!"
"It's all this price?"
"It's all this price!" The grain shop owner asked him to look at the warehouse. Sure enough, the warehouse was full of grain.
The landlord wondered: "Isn't there no bumper harvest this year? How could there be so much food? Why is the price of food so low?"
The grain shop owner explained: "These are all grains from Zhao State. Not only are they large in quantity and cheap in price, but they are also better than those from our Wei State. Look, these millets are full in grains and have excellent quality! Now everyone is starting to buy them.
The food in Zhao State is so cost-effective!”
The landlord didn't believe it very much, so he visited several grain stores and found that this was indeed the case.
He asked his friend, who said, "Who still grows grain now? You don't know that the king of Zhao and the prime minister liked a kind of clothes called cheongsam, which were made of silk, which attracted the aristocrats to imitate. The price of silk is very high now.
, Our land does not grow grain, instead plant mulberry trees, and raise silkworms and screws to sell silk!”
"So that's the case. The food is so cheap. Why are you planting? I'll also change to plant mulberry trees this year!"
...
Similar situations have also happened everywhere.
The Wei and Chu countries had mulberry trees and silkworms, and they were specially smelted weapons, armor, pottery, elk breeding, trees and wood cutting... all kinds of business began to grow and grow.
The merchants from Zhao Guolai would buy these things at a high price.
Of course, Zhao State does not have that much money, so if you don’t have enough, you can use grain to supplement it. For the people of Wei and Chu State, you can get more without growing grain, so why not do it?
In just three years, the grain planting area of Wei and Chu was reduced by half!
...
In the court of Wei, Gongsun Yan took the lead and said to Wei Yao worriedly: "The king, I visited the people and found that there was a lot of land in Wei. The farmers did not farm, but instead went to raise silkworms, make irons, and do various business.
.”
"Now, the people of Wei rely on buying Zhao's food. If one day Zhao does not sell food to us, a great famine will occur in Wei! At that time, Wei will be in danger of destroying the country!"
Wei Yao immediately became alert and thought, could this be Zhang Beichen's trick? She asked, "Is this really that?"
"It's true!" Gongsun Yan said seriously, "I suggest that the king should order the farmers to return to the fields and plant food."
"Absurd!" Gongzi Ju retorted loudly, "You are exaggerating! Our Wei Kingdom is a vast country. Have you ever heard of famine in the country in recent years?"
"We have already reserved a lot of food and can deal with it even if there is a famine. Those fields can produce food in just one year. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Didn't you see that Wei State has a strong national strength and is booming?"
Speaking of which, as the "key target of strategy" of Zhao State, Gongziju made a lot of benefits in the trade of Zhao State, so he naturally disagreed with Gongsun Yan's proposal.
Although Wei Yao was vigilant, she was not vigilant enough. She said: "Gongsun Yan, I will order you to investigate this matter, organize manpower, let some barren land be replanted and reserve grain."
"Affect the order." Gongsun Yan knew that his actions would be difficult.
Because the entire Wei court and the nobles of Wei were all his resistance. Prime Minister Gongzi Ju, General Pang Ming, and Wei Yao’s office were all part of this chain of interests!
Before they knew it, they had been "buyed" by Zhang Beichen!
...
Some people in Chu State also realized this problem.
Fan Lue found the King of Chu and explained his concerns to her: "King, now that the farmland in Chu is abandoned, everyone will breed elks and make iron. These things will continue to flow into Zhao State. In the long run, Chu State will
It will be annexed by Zhao State!"
Xiong Zhitong is not only not very interested in politics, but also knows little about the economy.
She frowned and said, "Isn't our country very strong at present? The treasury is full!"
Because Zhao State took the initiative to make concessions, Chu State naturally had money.
Fan Lue said: "Money is nothing more than some gold, silver, copper and iron. If it cannot be exchanged for food, even if it is piled up with the treasury, it will be worthless!"
"The teacher said it is reasonable." Xiong Zhitong agreed, "Then the teacher will handle this matter."
"King..." Fan Lei wanted to persuade him again, but Xiong Zhitong had already left. She still wanted to practice martial arts.
"Hey! How can I deal with it?" Fan Lei sighed. He was powerless.
This involves too many nobles' interests. Can he, an old man, still be against all nobles? The King of Chu must make up his mind to order the nobles and the people to return to agricultural production.
But the King of Chu didn't care about this issue at all.
"The State of Chu is probably not far from the destruction of the country!" Fan Lei only felt physically and mentally exhausted. Instead of being destroyed like this, he was more willing to fight against his opponents on the battlefield so that he could display his military talents.
...
Zhao State, Zhao Royal Palace.
Zhang Beichen was lying on Zhao Yun's bed, while Zhao Yun was lying in her arms.
Zhao Yun sniffed the smell of Zhang Beichen and said, "You still have her body fragrance!"
"Don't you like it?"
"like!"
The two laughed for a moment, and Zhang Beichen said: "King, we have been implementing the plan for food wars for several years. Zhao's food monopolized the markets of Wei and Chu. Half of the fields of Wei and Chu have been deserted.
, Once we stop selling food, these two countries will inevitably fall into famine and domestic turmoil!”
"Now both countries have realized this problem and have begun to deal with it. I think it's time to close the net and catch them off guard!"
"Yes." Zhao Yun whispered in Zhang Beichen's ear: "I will listen to you."
...
Zhang Beichen began the network collection plan, but instead of directly cutting off grain trading, he started with seeds.
Nowadays, the Wei and Chu states not only buy grain from Zhao state, but also buy grain from Zhao state! Because the grain from Zhao state is much better than the grain from their two countries, with higher yields, and are more resistant to insect pests.
Therefore, the farmers in both countries are now planting grains from Zhao State.
Gongsun Yan and Fan Lue only saw the problem of grain trading, but did not notice the problem of grain seeds.
And Zhang Beichen had already laid the foreshadowing on this!
He summoned the large grain merchants of Zhao State, and these were his people.
"Remember, all the grains sold to Wei and Chu this year will be sold for inferior products. When the grain seeds are sold out, you will collectively stop the grain transactions and raise the price of food!"
"yes!"
The inferior grains prepared by Zhang Beichen are those with natural defects, such as easily getting sick or extremely low yields. These seeds should have been eliminated, but Zhang Beichen kept them and specially cultivated a batch of them for the purpose of
At this time, it was sold to Wei and Chu!
[Wei and Chu purchased inferior seeds from Zhao and began spring plowing this year.]
Zhang Beichen estimated the time and started the operation again when the spring plowing was about to end.
...
Zhao State, in the court.
Fei Jian came out of the line and reported to Zhao Yunhui: "Your Majesty, I have important matters to report!"
"What's the matter with you?" Zhao Yun asked.
Fei looked hesitant when he saw him. He looked at Zhang Beichen, then looked at Zhao Yun, and then said with a thorn in his mouth: "Your Majesty, I want to report someone!"
"Who is reporting?" Zhao Yun's expression became serious.
"Report my Prime Minister Zhao, Zhang Beichen!" Fei Jian said loudly.
After he finished speaking, all the ministers were shocked!
Zhao Yun even asked: "Fei Jian, the Prime Minister is the pillar of my Zhao State. You'd better make it clear that you can't wrongly accuse the good people!"
Fei Jian shouted: "I will never wrongly accuse a good person! According to my investigation, Zhang Beichen has lived a luxurious life in the past few years and has been squandering. For the sake of his own selfish desire, he sold the grain in the grain silo of Zhao to Wei and Chu without authorization.
country!"
"Now, the granary of my Zhao Kingdom is empty! King, Zhang Beichen is extremely guilty!"
After saying that, Fei Jian presented his investigation content.
After Zhao Yun finished reading it, her face suddenly became gloomy. She said angrily: "There is such a thing. Zhang Beichen, Gu trusts you so much, is this how you repay Gu?"
"Master, these are all villains. I have never done such a thing before!" Zhang Beichen said quickly.
"Shut up!" Zhao Yun, who had always obeyed Zhang Beichen's will, scolded him at this time and said, "From today, Zhang Beichen will be suspended. Fat to see you, come and investigate this matter!"
"Abide by the order!"
The ministers were silent and dared not speak.
...
When he arrived at the palace, Zhao Yun said to Zhang Beichen with a proud look on his face: "How is it? Is the lonely performance today pretty good?"
"Yes, it scared me!" Zhang Beichen said with a smile.
"You are very brave. Even the king dares to attack you. How could you scare you?" Zhao Yun rolled his eyes.
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Zhang Beichen continued: "After we finished this drama, the king could order that because Zhao State lacked enough food, it stopped selling grain to Wei and Chu countries. In this way, their suspicion could be minimized."
"At this time, the king punished me to go to the border to guard the border. I took the opportunity to train my army. When the time came, I could defeat the two countries in one fell swoop!"
Hearing his words, Zhao Yun sighed: "No wonder Gu always failed to win the world before. Zhang Qing, with you here this time, why did Gu lose?"
...
[The Prime Minister of Zhao State stole official grain and was sent to the border to guard the border. The King of Zhao ordered that the Zhao State grain merchants were prohibited from selling grain to foreign countries.]
News about Zhao quickly spread to Wei and Chu, and the two countries suddenly panicked.
Because they found that before they knew it, they had become dependent on Zhao's food!
At least half of the domestic food comes from Zhao State. Zhao State suddenly cut off food, causing the two countries to run out of food at once, and a food crisis occurred.