Go to ancient times and engage in construction

Zhao Xuan rode a horse and led several guards into the palace gate. The snow on the road of the palace had already been swept away by the waiters, but because the heavy snow kept falling, the cleared passageway was covered with a thin layer.Zhao Xuan rode his horse all the way to the gate of the inner palace before dismounting and throwing the reins to the guards.Along the way, there was an endless stream of palace people bowing to Zhao Xuan.

"I have seen His Highness the Crown Prince!" The maid outside King Zhao's bedroom saw Zhao Xuan walking in, and she saluted very loudly.

"Is Your Majesty here?" Zhao Xuan stopped and stopped under the corridor of the palace where King Zhao lived.Zhao Xuan knew that his father was inside, and the maid on duty said this loud greeting to the people in the palace. In the palace, there were not only King Zhao, but also two young and beautiful concubines of King Zhao.Zhao Xuan never had to inform his father when he met the king. The maid was afraid that Zhao Xuan would see some embarrassing scenes if he went in directly.

Zhao Xuan waited in the corridor for a while, when he heard a chattering sound from inside, and two gorgeously dressed young women stepped out of the hall.

"His Royal Highness!" The two women greeted Zhao Xuan with their heads bowed, with a little fear in their expressions.

"Yeah." Zhao Xuan snorted softly, without looking at his father's two concubines, he tossed his black brocade robe and stepped into the palace.

The two young women didn't dare to be dissatisfied with Zhao Xuan's cold reception. They squatted halfway until Zhao Xuan walked in and couldn't see their backs before they dared to stand up.

The position of Zhao Xuan's future successor is unshakable. Although these two young and beautiful women are very much loved by King Zhao, their fate is not in the hands of King Zhao, but in the hands of Zhao Xuan. After a hundred years of King Zhao, If Zhao Xuan doesn't like his father's concubine, he can order them to be buried for the old king.

"Sister, we complained about the crown prince in front of the king just now, will the crown prince notice?" The youngest woman was worried.

"You and my sisters are not the only ones complaining. There are quite a few court ministers who have complained to the king recently." The older woman said this, feeling uneasy in her heart. After Zhao Wang coquettishly said a few words, Zhao Xuan came, and Zhao Xuan was the chief culprit who prevented her from buying her favorite items.

"That's right, many noble ladies complain a lot." The young woman scanned her surroundings, then put her mouth close to the older woman's ear and whispered, "It is said that Ai Ji was beaten by the princess because Ai Ji treated the maid Complain about not being able to buy soap to use."

"Then Ai Ji just gave birth to a son for the prince." The older woman was stunned.

Aiji is Zhao Xuan's favorite concubine. She just gave birth to a son for Zhao Xuan in May this year. Although Zhao Xuan already has an eldest son who is more than a week old, he still likes his second son very much. King Zhao also rewarded her Ai Ji, during that time, the face of the Crown Princess was all gray.

The older woman envied Ai Ji very much. She envied that Ai Ji was following the most powerful man in Zhao, and that this man was also brave and mighty.After Ai Ji got a boy in one fell swoop in May, the older woman became even more jealous. She served an old man who was nearly sixty years old. It is impossible to have children in this life. She is also a concubine. Ai Ji's good fate once made her Resentful, today I heard that Ai Ji was beaten by the housewife, and I just realized that even though Ai Ji has a son by her side, she is still a concubine, and the housewife will not be polite in punishing her.

"Xuan'er is here." Zhao Wang was lying on the bed, half covered with a brocade quilt.Although there is a stove in the palace, the temperature is not low, but Zhao Wang is old and afraid of the cold, and there is a copper hand stove wrapped in brocade cloth for heating on his knees.

This hand stove is copper on the outside and hollow in the middle, which is used to place the burning coal.Both the copper stove and the coal come from the state of Wu. The coal is a special anthracite. A small piece of coal can be used for seven or eight hours when placed in the copper stove. It is clean and convenient. King Zhao likes this kind of stove very much.

"Father!" Zhao Xuan bowed to his father.

"Come and sit next to Gu." Zhao Chao's son beckoned.

"No!" Zhao Xuan patted off the snow on his body, and sat sideways on the slump.

"This winter is unusual again." King Zhao felt the cold air coming from his son.

"This year seems to be colder than last year." Zhao Xuan was worried. Last year's winter was earlier, and this year's is also earlier, but this year's temperature is lower than last year.

"Is the harvest going to be reduced again next year?" King Zhao hadn't asked about political affairs for several years, but just asking didn't mean he didn't know.

"This year, the wheat was sown before the snowstorm, and the wheat seedlings had already emerged before the snowfall. As long as the wheat seedlings emerge, they are afraid of being covered by heavy snow. Next year's harvest will not be greatly reduced."

Zhao Xuan has been paying attention to Wu Guo's Wen Wei Po last year. Most of the newspaper's content is literature, but it also involves weather and farming. Zhao Xuan found that the weather forecast and farming knowledge in the newspaper are the same for Zhao Guo it works.Immediately asked Zhao Guo's spies in Wu country to buy a fast horse and send it back to Zhao country as soon as a new newspaper came out. Normally, Zhao Xuan would be able to read the new newspaper within five days.

This year, as soon as Zhao Xuan saw the weather forecast in Gongsun Pan, he immediately ordered all the places to harvest in autumn, sow the seeds, and sow the wheat before the cold current. The field can be fertile regardless of the method of cultivation, which is also obtained from the newspapers, but the decree issued by Zhao Xuan cannot be immediately known to the people of Zhao State. This year, fertile land cultivation in Zhao State is not the mainstream, and rotation farming is still the method.

Zhao Xuan looked at his son and nodded with satisfaction. Last year, Zhao State was hit by a disaster. Thanks to the water conservancy projects that Zhao Xuan ordered to build in various places, the disaster has been alleviated a lot. The people of Zhao State are much better off than the surrounding vassal states.

"Xuan'er, don't be too oppressive to the nobles of the aristocratic family."

"My child understands." Zhao Xuan understood that this was a powerful person who came to his father to complain. Last year, there was a disaster. Many nobles with a lot of private land asked for a tax reduction for the land, but Zhao Xuan did not agree. The irrigation of the private land of the nobles is much better than that of ordinary people. Many, their private fields did not reduce production as much as civilian fields.These dignitaries were very dissatisfied, and they sued King Zhao. Now that King Zhao spoke, Zhao Xuan had to reconsider that the nobles' taxes should be reduced or exempted.

"Let's withdraw the army on the border, as long as Wu's luxury goods are banned from entering Zhao, there is no need to block all Wu's goods." King Zhao moved the copper furnace up. The special coal in the copper furnace was almost used up, but Zhao Xuan sent heavy troops to station at the border of the throat, and did not allow businessmen from Wu and other vassal states to enter Zhao's border to do business. Zhao's merchants were only allowed to buy some necessities from Wu and sell them back to Zhao.

"Father, if you don't block Wu's goods, Zhao will be in danger!" Zhao Xuan suddenly gritted his teeth.

"Oh, why is that so?" King Zhao was shocked and sat up straight.

"My son prohibits luxury goods from entering Zhao. I am afraid that Zhao's wealth will flow out, but Wu does not sell luxury goods to Zhao, but plunders Zhao's wealth." Zhao Xuan looked around his father's bedroom, feeling more and more that he was doing the right thing.

"So powerful?" King Zhao frowned, but they were all small things that would take away all the wealth of Zhao Guo?

"Father, look at this palace, most of the supplies come from Wu Kingdom, not only in the father's palace, but also in the child's mansion." Zhao Xuan said with a heavy heart. "The same is true for those important officials in the royal court. Even ordinary people are after Wu's goods."

Zhao Xuan couldn't understand how a country of Wu could produce so many strange and attractive things, from clothes to shoes and socks, from all kinds of snacks and dry goods to all kinds of fruit wine (the fruit wine here is Nanbu fruit wine, Wu The fruit planted in the throat of the country has not yet produced fruit), from rouge to soap, from paper to oil lamps, these things Zhao Guo can't make, even the flint has been replaced by Wu Guo's so-called match, that kind of match only needs a small stick Wipe it against the sandpaper, and sparks will come out. The Prince's Mansion has abandoned flint and used matches.

"Wu Guo exchanged these things for Zhao Guo's gold, silver and jewelry. Last year, the toll tax collected at the throat and border alone was 10,000+ gold. From the toll tax, we can see how much wealth Zhao has already flowed out!" After the checkpoint officials reported the results to Zhao Xuan complacently, Zhao Xuan was shocked.After sending people to investigate the bustling throat, they decisively sent heavy troops to stop the entry of Wu's goods.

"Aren't there many merchants who just pass through the state of Zhao, and their goods are sold to the emperor? In this case, it is beneficial to our country to pay taxes through the checkpoint." King Zhao recalled that a minister who had a family member doing business in his family had such an excuse.

"Hmph! It's a pity that my Zhao people love Wu's goods too much, and most of those goods are bought by our people." Zhao Xuan's favorite concubine, Ai Ji, is one who admires Wu's goods very much. After a huge amount of gold and silver flowed to the state of Wu, Ai Ji's love made him angry, and the crown princess took the opportunity to challenge Ai Ji to deal with her.

"Well, since that's the case, I don't need Wu's goods." King Zhao slammed the copper furnace in his hand to the ground when he said this.

"Father..., it is the child who is not filial, and the father cannot enjoy it when he is tired." Zhao Xuan stared at his father and was moved.

"Prince! My family's community is the most important thing, and the descendants of the Zhao family should be like this!" Zhao Wang patted his son with his old hand.

"The child will surely live up to his father's high expectations."

While Zhao Xuan was talking with his father, Chu Chaohui and Zheng Yuming discussed countermeasures.

"It seems that Zhao and Wu will have to fight to resolve trade disputes." Chu Zhaohui has always believed in talking with fists.

"It's best if we can't afford to fight, now we can't swallow Zhao Guo." Zheng Yuming read over and over again the urgent reports sent back by Huo Sizhong, Wei Qing, and Zeng You. "The State of Zhao seems to have just sealed off the border, and has no intention of provoking a war. It still allows businessmen from his own country to enter the State of Wu to buy goods."

"That's a limited purchase, right?"

"Not bad!" Zheng Yuming suddenly laughed. "The crown prince of Zhao State has a good idea. He does not allow Wu State to earn Zhao State's money, but also wants to obtain necessities from Wu State. How can there be such a good thing."

Chu Chaohui rubbed his chin: "You said Zhao Guo bought a lot of cheap salt from Wu Guo?"

"Yes, the price of salt on the coast of the East China Sea is half cheaper than that of other salt-producing countries, and it can be supplied in large quantities. All the edible salt in Zhao State is imported from Wu State."

"So, there is no need to deploy troops to start a trade war." Chu Zhaohui smiled meaningfully at Zheng Yuming.

"That's right, let's not use force with Zhao Guo, but just have a business war without gunpowder!" Zheng Yuming loves Chu Chaohui and Fang Fang the most, because the other party understands what he means without saying anything.

A war without gunpowder smoke often has the same effect as a war with gunpowder smoke.