Even when the two sides were fighting, and Lian Po had not completely defeated his opponent, the Zhao people did not panic at all.
They were busy talking and laughing in their farmland. When they talked about the Qin people, they just said disdainfully: "They dare not come near Ma Fujun." Zhao Kuo's existence gave them great confidence.
, or a sense of security. During these days, the people of Zhao boasted about Ma Fujun. Fan Ju’s original statement that the people of Qin were only afraid of Ma Fuzi spread even more widely. This was said by the Prime Minister of Qin personally.
Yes, how could it be fake?
Zhao Kuo also knew that the war situation was getting closer and closer to him. During this period, the sorrow between his brows was also increasing. Fortunately, his arrival did bring some good things to these times.
After the reform, at least the Qin people no longer carried out large-scale massacres. I heard that they even released hundreds of thousands of prisoners in Chu State. The King of Qin personally wrote a letter to tell Zhao Kuo the good news.
The King of Qin said in his letter that I very much agree with your views, but there is no one around to consult, and it is always easy to make mistakes. If you can be by my side, Qin will definitely become a benevolent and righteous country, treat all the people well, and establish
A unified and prosperous world without war.
A Qin man named Zheng Anping invaded the State of Zhao, and Lian Po once again asked for war. King Zhao asked Zhao Kuo what he thought. King Zhao didn't like General Lian Po who was straight, and everyone knew this. Now
Among the many generals of Zhao State, only Lian Po was not yet a lord. Even General Lejian, after returning to Zhao State from Yan State, the King of Zhao wanted to directly give him a land and make him a lord.
Lian Po, the senior minister, became a little embarrassed among these princes.
Zhao Kuo felt that as long as Lian Po opened his mouth and told King Zhao about his achievements over the years, King Zhao would definitely give him the same treatment. Although King Zhao didn't like Lian Po, he would never want to let him.
After Lian Po left the Kingdom of Zhao, a minister who had been humiliated by Lian Po in the past approached the King of Zhao and asked him to drive away the arrogant Lian Po. As a result, the King of Zhao became impatient and scolded the minister and drove him out of the palace.
However, Lian Po was not willing to do this. He just wanted to rely on his own merits to get the rewards he deserved from King Zhao. Therefore, during these days, Lian Po was very active in the war. He was responsible for Handan County.
He was very serious about the common people's training. He spent a year gathering together the young people who had just grown up and the old soldiers who had returned from the battlefield, and often led them to join the army for large-scale drills.
He had been looking forward to the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. When he learned that Zheng Anping was coming, General Lian Po was very happy and hurriedly asked for a battle. Zhao Kuo told King Zhao: A truly wise monarch must not only know how to recruit talented people, but also must know how to recruit talented people.
Knowing how to give them the opportunity to display their talents, King Zhao ordered General Lian Po to summon soldiers from all over Handan to fight against the Qin people. He was also prepared. If Lian Po was defeated, he would send Ma Fujun to the battlefield.
At this time, Zhao Kuo welcomed a guest from afar.
The guest is from the State of Qin. He is an old man who is simply dressed and kind. There are many disciples standing around the old man. This old man is a friend of Pang Gong. His name is Zhan, and he is the current leader of the farm. He is getting
After accepting Pang Gong's invitation, he took his disciples, dressed in ordinary coarse cloth, and came to Mafu all the way, earning travel money by making straw sandals and weaving mats.
Zhao Kuo warmly received the old man. The old man did not have the same charm as Xunzi. Xunzi was still the most charming person Zhao Kuo had ever seen in this era. Even if he stood there without saying a word, it was enough to make people laugh.
People who knew him respected him and did not dare to be rude. The old man did not have the appearance of Xunzi. He was a very ordinary old man. If he stood with the old farmers in Mafu, no one would be able to spot them.
the difference.
The old man always had a kind smile on his face, as did most of his disciples, who looked honest and simple. Because of their friendliness, Zhao Kuo's disciples also liked them very much. It was rare that they didn't even say anything to Ge.
What are they doing? Di sat aside curiously, staring at them motionless. Zhao Kuo and the old man sat in the courtyard, and the disciples also sat down.
"Old man, if I knew you were coming to visit, I would definitely drive to pick you up personally. How could I bear to let an elder like you suffer from the fatigue of the journey?" Zhao Kuo said, shook his head and said seriously:
"How dare I trouble you? I also want to thank you. Because of you, I can see the condition of the cultivated land along the way..." Zhan said, and then talked about all the things he had done along the way.
See and hear.
What he was talking about was not only the situation of cultivated land, but also the situation of local farmers. He smiled and said: "The common people in various parts of Zhao State said: It is because of Lord Ma Fu that we are in the current situation. You have a distinguished status but
I have never met anyone who can love the people who are suffering. I heard that you don’t collect high taxes from the people in your town, but use the taxes they pay to buy cattle, make farm tools, and distribute them to the locals.
The officials..."
The old man suddenly stood up and bowed to Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo was shocked and stood up in a hurry. He also bowed and bowed, saying: "I dare not accept the old man's gift. Please don't do this."
"I heard that you wrote a book to persuade the kings of various places to pay attention to the people and not to delay the farming season with administration. You also calculated the taxes of various places in order to reduce taxes and reduce corvee..." As the old man spoke, he suddenly shed tears.
He just smiled and kept wiping his tears, and said, "I'm so happy."
In this era, everyone is thinking about ways to save the world. After the transformation of class relations, schools of thought reflecting the interests of different classes have been born. In terms of workers, Mohism represents the ideological representative of small craftsmen, and Yang Zhu
The school represents the interests of small landowners, while the farmers represented by Xu Xing are the spokespersons of the lower class farmers.
Xu Xing was from Chu. He lived in the same era as Mencius. He may have seen the tragedy of the peasants at the bottom. He took his disciples on foot to various countries. They wore simple clothes and slept in the open air. They rushed to other countries.
They don't want rewards or official positions, they just hope to get a piece of farmland where they can work. Of course, they are still scholars in essence, and they are divided into two groups.
One group studies agricultural technology, summarizes the experience of agricultural production technology, and wants to improve agricultural productivity. The other group wants to meet the king and hope that the king can use his political ideas. The peasant family's ideas for governing the country include: promoting farming war policies and rewarding the development of agriculture.
Production, focusing on agriculture and suppressing business, reducing taxes and corvees, caring for the people, etc. Of these two schools, in Mencius's time, the political school was the more famous.
Later, the Qin State's reform also adopted many political concepts proposed by the farmers, which brought the farmers their own glory. However, nowadays, the research school, which is the study of farming technology, is more valued. The old man slowly
Xu talked about the development of the farmers in these days. After the Qin State's reform, the farmers who were struggling to find a way forward seemed to see hope, and they hurried to the Qin State.
The Qin State adopted almost all their agricultural ideas, from farming and warfare to focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce... Facts have proved that the knowledge of farmers is indeed very good. The Qin State quickly became stronger. The combination of farming and warfare made the country bigger and bigger.
The country became stronger, but the farmers could not be happy for long, because they discovered that even with the completion of most political thoughts, the tragedy of those farmers at the bottom was not over.
They are still suffering the same way.
The current leader of the farm family, Lao Zhan, lives in such a painful era for the farm family. When he was young, he had seen the extremely desperate farm family find hope in the Qin State, with that kind of ecstatic look and despair.
The peasant families exploded into great power in the Qin State. When Shang Yang carried out his reforms, he borrowed many peasant families' ideas. The peasant families collectively joined the Qin Dynasty and began to contribute silently.
When Zhan grew up, the farm family could no longer laugh. The farmers at the bottom were still suffering from disasters and harsh government. They had their own farmland and could cultivate it by themselves, but a year of farming could only barely make enough for them.
If there is a disaster in the stomach, it will be a disaster, high taxes and corvee, and endless wars... Zhan led a group of desperate peasant disciples, still wearing the simplest clothes, with hundreds of people in his heart.
The farmer struggling in the sea of suffering is looking for an invisible road.
The development changed the farmers' thoughts, or in other words, he made a breakthrough. The farmers' thoughts gradually changed from how to make the country pay attention to agriculture to how to make the country pay attention to farmers. The farmers who were scolded by Mencius at the beginning and could not get along with Mencius now now
But they adopted Mencius' people-oriented thinking. Farmers no longer said to the king: Please pay attention to agricultural development. They said: Please lower your head and look at the suffering people, please see how hard they work, and please have mercy on them.
.
Zhan proposed that rulers should restrain their own behavior and should not plunder or exploit the people. They should reduce taxes and lighten corvee services. At the same time, they should pay attention to economy and not be extravagant. The most important idea in the farmhouse is that everyone is equal in labor.
But it has been forgotten because they discovered that it is simply impossible to do.
However, these thoughts of theirs did not make anyone lower their heads and take a look at the common people. Therefore, farmers once again put forward a new theory, that is, disaster relief. They found that disasters are usually the biggest force that crushes farmers. Therefore,
They proposed that rulers should prevent disasters and relieve victims. They also came up with different methods for different disasters.
Zhao Kuo looked at the old man in front of him in surprise. He was poorly dressed, had a dark face, and had chapped hands... Most of the young people standing behind him were the same, even when they listened to Zhan talking about the plight of the farmers, their
There was just a smile on his face. Zhao Kuo was a little in awe, thinking about these people, these people who didn't care about official positions or enjoyment, but who wholeheartedly wanted to change the plight of the people at the bottom... He was a little shocked in his heart.
It was because his thinking was a bit simplistic. He originally thought that the farmers were just scientific researchers who wanted to innovate farming technology. Unexpectedly, they were also a group of sages who really wanted to save the world.
They are not the only sages. There is no shortage of sages in this era, whether in the past, present, or future. There are many such people who have abandoned everything and moved forward in pain for the world in their hearts... that is
An unknown peasant family in later generations can obtain so many golden treasures after conducting in-depth excavations, not to mention other schools of thought. Each school of thought has its indescribable sages and the treasures they left behind.
.
A great civilization was built on the painful blood and sweat of these pioneers. They bent down and carried a great civilization, and their blood and sweat fell to the ground. They carried the tower of civilization like this.
Lifting up bit by bit, this great man finally stood on the highest peak in the world. Looking at the crying old man in front of him, Zhao Kuo really wanted to reach out and hug him, even though this was against etiquette.
"You have given us hope... There are still people who care about the common people, and there are still people who can work in the fields themselves. Our knowledge is not useless..." The old man kept wiping his tears and sobbing. He was really too tired.
Happy. This joy, along with the sadness of these days and doubts about the future path, made the old man a little bit out of control. The disciples comforted him one after another. The old man shook his head and covered his eyes, but his face was filled with a smile.
.
"Old man... there is nothing wrong with your theory. Whether it is caring for the farmers at the bottom or not exploiting the people, it is all right. However, there is no way to implement it just by persuasion. I have talked with you a few days ago.
The disciples drafted a book on taxes and calculated the relationship between cultivated land and taxes in detail... These are actually preparations for the law. Using the law to fix taxes is easier than lobbying.
More reliable..."
"What you said can also be true. The law stipulates that the ruler restrains his own behavior, and the law allows the ruler to be thrifty and cherish the people's strength... What I have always said is that the will of a country is not the monarch.
The country is the embodiment of the will of all rulers, and free people in a country who have not violated the law belong to the ruler. Peasants are the largest group in the country, and their vested interests should also be the most important embodiment of the will.
..”
Zhan raised his head in surprise and turned over and over again, trying to find pen and ink. At some point, he found a cute young man in the distance taking notes. Zhan had no choice but to listen carefully to Zhao Kuo's continued story. On this day,
The two talked about the fundamentals of farmers to future trends, from the land ownership system to farming technology... The more the old man listened, the more excited he became. This old man, who was over fifty years old, was as helpless as a child, pulling his disciples.
Their eyes are extremely bright.
The old man stood up, his face was serious, he bowed to Zhao Kuo and said, "Thank you."
Zhao Kuo smiled, grabbed his arm with his strong hands, and helped the old man up.
Zhao Kuo stretched out his hand and hugged the old man.
He whispered:
"Thanks."
ps: The more information I find, the more admiration I feel... I didn’t expect that writing this book would make me have such great emotional ups and downs.