Go to ancient times and engage in construction

At the beginning of September, the northwestern frontiers of Zhao State were in a mess. Except for the high walls to protect the cities, the frontiers were not spared by the Rong people. Those weakly protected villages were in ruins, and there were ruins and ruins left by the Rong people's looting, retreat and arson everywhere. Beneath the ruined walls were charred and horrific corpses. The women and young men in the village who were too late to escape were taken away by the Rong people, and the others were hacked to death.When the Rong people retreated, those who survived the death returned from the wild or in the ravine, looking for the remains of their relatives in the ruins, and there was continuous mourning and weeping all over the world.

Zhao Xuan took [-] soldiers and horses withdrawn from the border of Zhao and Tang, and rushed all the way. At the end of August, they surrounded more than [-] soldiers who were looting Zhengcun.Thirty thousand against two thousand, Zhao Jun wiped out all the Rong people without any suspense.Zhao Xuan saw the tragic situation after the village was swept away by the Rong people, and he was so angry that he ordered all the captured Rong people to be executed.

When Zhao Jun chased to the border, the Rong people's robbery in the south was coming to an end.The Rong people who were completely wiped out by the Zhao army were the tribe responsible for cutting off the last one.Zhao Jun rested on the spot and went north to pursue, trying to recover the people who had been taken away by the Rong people.After chasing for two days, he chased all the way to Yongguo, which was attached to Zhaoguo, and finally caught up with the sporadic Rong people who were slowly returning with their spoils.

Zhao Xuan divided his troops to rescue the civilians captured by the Rong people, and at the same time ordered the main force to chase after the slow-moving Rong people's army loaded with property and women.The Rong people got the news that there were tens of thousands of Zhao troops chasing after them, and hurriedly discarded the loads that affected the walking speed, lightened the load on the horses and retreated to the grassland quickly.On the way for the Rong people to evacuate, items and still warm corpses were scattered everywhere, some of them did not die on the spot, and were still wriggling in a pool of blood.These savage robbers killed all the women and men who affected their escape before discarding them.

The miserable situation along the way made the chasing soldiers red-eyed. Although Zhao Jun tried his best to catch up, he still stopped at the border of the vassal state. Rong people.

The number of Rong people who went south to rob was only a little over ten thousand. Although the number was only one-third of that of the Zhao army, the nomads grew up on the backs of small horses. For them, galloping on horses was as common as eating and sleeping.Even if Zhao Jun's cavalry had stirrups to help stabilize their bodies, when the two sides fought, Zhao Jun's cavalry would not be nomadic opponents one-on-one.

Another reason why Zhao Xuan ordered to stop the pursuit was the problem of food and grass.

The Rong people burned, killed and looted all the way, leaving behind ruins. Zhao Jun’s food and grass could not be replenished along the way, and the supplies carried by the whole army could not last long. The army stopped and returned.If an army without food and grass is surrounded by Rong people with rich supplies, the whole army will be in danger of being wiped out.

The monarchs and nobles of the Yong Kingdom who survived the death while hiding in the high wall saw Zhao Xuan wailing. Their lives were saved, but their property suffered a lot. The farms with weak defenses were all robbed by the Rong people. The cold winter is coming. In the case of lack of food and clothing, without external relief, the common people in the vassal state cannot survive the winter safely.

The northwestern frontier counties in the Zhao State also suffered disasters, and Zhao State's finances were unable to help the people in the whole territory. Since they were too busy to take care of themselves, Zhao Xuan did not promise to help the vassals except for good words to comfort the vassals.

The monarch and nobles of the vassal state watched Zhao Xuan lead the army away with disappointment. Without foreign aid and relying on self-reliance, half of the population of this small country can survive until next spring.

Zhao Xuan returned to the county town within the territory, and while distributing military rations to relieve the refugees, he sent people back to the capital to raise supplies.In the past few years, the winter has always been advanced. If the materials are not mobilized to the northwest for disaster relief, the cold air will come south in October, and the people will not be able to survive under the hunger and cold.

"Your Highness, the Wu country newspapers are here." Boyao came to see Zhao Xuan with a stack of newspapers in his hand.

Zhao Xuanzheng was counting the disaster situation sent by local officials on paper, and when he saw the newspaper in Boyao's hand, he was a little dazed.

From being forced to return to rescue the king's capital from the border of Zhao and Tang, to chasing after Prince Shi, and going north to fight against the Rong people, Zhao Xuan was very busy.The must-read Wu Bao could not be delivered in time because of his uncertain whereabouts. Zhao Xuan hadn't read Wu Bao for a month.

"The people in the Tang Kingdom are so miserable, and the King Tang's tyranny is comparable to that of the Rong people!" Zhao Xuan looked through the dates one by one, and the more he saw the back, the more he sighed.

"The country of Wu treats the people of Tang so favorably. Annexing Tang is not worth the loss. This son Ming is too extravagant." Boyao and Zhao Xuan quickly glanced at the contents of the newspaper.

At the beginning of August, most of the newspapers praised Wu Bing for his bravery and won the capital of the Tang Dynasty at lightning speed, and then a large number of student newspapers wrote articles denouncing the Tang Dynasty for what he deserved.In mid-to-late August, as Zheng Yuming and Wu Wangsheng visited Tang Dynasty to reward the army, the two newspaper reporters who went with them sent back news that the people in Tang Dynasty were impoverished and dying of starvation, and Wu Wangsheng and his wife visited the refugee relief site in person. food reports.

A sum of supplies provided by King Wu's family to save Tang land was published in the newspaper. Boyao made a rough count, and the money spent on supporting Tang land was more than the total fiscal revenue of Zhao State in three years.Boyao thought to himself, if Zhao Guo wins the land of Tang, it is impossible for such a large amount of money to be invested in such a poor hole.

Zhao Xuan glanced at Boyao indifferently, shook his head and retorted: "At present, it seems that Wu Guo's surrender to Tang is not worth the loss, but when Tang is relieved, the amount of money that can be collected is far more than this amount."

Having said that, Zhao Xuan sighed heavily again: "Young Master Ming has done this, there is no doubt that the hearts of the people of Tang are towards Wu."

Zhao State annexed Wei State four years ago. When it was merged, there were many people in Wei who wanted to restore the country. Zhao Xuan secretly dealt with the royal family of Wei in the name of plague in order to stifle the idea of ​​restoring the country. The defenders of the country lost their supporters.After disposing of the royal family of Wei, Zhao Xuan implemented a policy of reducing taxes and pacifying the people of Wei, and it took three years to integrate the Wei people into Zhao.This time the young master raised his troops to attack Zhao Wangdu, but no one responded from the guard.

"The state of Wu is too insidious. It is said that it is an alliance to attack the Tang Dynasty, but the action is to intercept our army first. The state of Wu clearly does not want our army to go to the Tang Dynasty to share the profits! Your Highness, our country cannot stop here." Boyao thought of Wei Qing's high-spirited look, and felt Full of aggrieved.

Zhao Xuan's face was gloomy. Even though he had a good impression of Zheng Yuming, Wu Guo made a move to monopolize the land of Tang, which made Zhao Xuan very dissatisfied with Wu Guo.

"Report! Someone from the king's capital!" Just as Zhao Xuan was thinking about how to deal with Wu Guo with a gloomy face, the personal guard came in to report.

In the past few months, as long as there is an urgent report to Zhao Xuan, it will be very bad news.When Zhao Xuan heard that it was someone from the capital, he stood up abruptly, fearing that something bad would happen to the capital.

It was a waiter from the palace who walked in. The waiter was dusty, but his face was full of joy: "The villain sees Your Highness!"

"Get up and talk." Seeing that the waiter had a good expression on his face, Zhao Xuan lowered his heart slightly.

"Your Highness! President Wu sent a mission to the capital, bringing drawings of farm tools and grain seeds."

"Oh, so Mr. Ming still remembers." Zhao Xuan nodded, and he asked Zheng Yuming for the things sent by the Wu State Mission.

Zheng Yuming kept his promise and sent someone to send the things, Zhao Xuan's complaints towards Wu Guo slightly eased.

"In addition to delivering these items, the Wu State Mission also handed over a letter written by their prime minister." The waiter handed Zheng Yuming's letter to Zhao Xuan.

Zhao Xuan took the envelope and opened it, and a fresh fragrance came over his face. In an instant, Zhao Xuan seemed to see Zheng Yuming who was wearing a light blue Tai Chi Kung Fu shirt and was lazily leaning half on the reclining chair.

"Your Highness, what did Young Master Ming write?" Seeing Zhao Xuan staring at the letter paper for a long time without speaking, Boyao couldn't help asking.

Zhao Xuan came to his senses, with an embarrassed look on his face. While quickly scanning the contents of the letter, he replied vaguely to Bo Yao: "I didn't write anything, just some greetings." Zhao Xuan stopped suddenly after half a sentence.

"What's the matter, Your Highness?" Boyao was surprised, he found a smile on Zhao Xuan's face, and the smile became bigger and bigger.

"Master Ming is kind after all, and this time we are here to send charcoal in the snow!" Zhao Xuan smiled and handed the letter to Boyao for reading.

Bo Yao held Zheng Yu's inscription letter and read it carefully, and couldn't help but be surprised when he saw more than half of it: "Master Ming will donate a large amount of supplies to our country to relieve the northwest border counties!"

"That's right. When the Wu mission was on a mission, the supplies had already been transported north to Zhao by businessmen."

Zheng Yuming expressed his indignation at the robbing by the Rong people in the south, and expressed his sympathy for the disaster suffered by Zhao Guo.Zheng Yuming said that even though Wu Guo had to tighten his belt in order to help the people in Tang, but in order to help the suffering people of his allies to survive the cold winter, Wu Guohui tried to find a way to raise supplies and transport them to the throat city and hand them over to Zhao Guo's border guards .

Zhao Xuan was particularly moved by the last two sentences of Zheng Yuming's letter.

Brother's trouble, brother should wholeheartedly share his worries, I hate that King Yong burned down the Treasure Pavilion before his death, and the treasures of the Tang Dynasty were burned, Yu Ming was so shy that he could only raise such grains and clothes as he could, I hope brother will accept it!

Bo Yao's resentment towards Wu Guo was more than half dispelled by the long material list attached to the letter. "Based on the speed at which the merchants of the Wu state transported the goods, it seems that those supplies are almost reaching the border of the throat."

It took seven or eight days for Zheng Yuming’s letter to be transferred from King Zhao to Zhao Xuan. In addition, it took four days for the Wu State Mission to travel to King Zhao, and it took about ten days. Based on the road conditions in Wu State , the caravan that set off with the Wu State Mission should be able to reach the throat border.

"You don't need to go back to the royal capital, take a single hand order to go to the throat border at a high speed, and order the border guards to escort Wu's merchants directly to the northwest border county!" Zhao Xuan wrote the warrant and handed it to the waiter, who asked the waiter to pass the order directly to the throat border.

Zhao Xuan made a rough calculation. With the help of Wu, in addition to helping the people in Northwest County survive the cold winter, they can also distribute some supplies to Zhao's vassal states.

Zhao Xuan divided the relief supplies and left some for Zhao Jun to guard in Northwest County to prevent the Rong people from attacking back. He led the rest of his troops back to the capital.

When the army returned to the capital, Zhao Xuan advanced to the palace to meet King Zhao.

Zhao Wang met Zhao Xuan lying on the bed.Zhao Wang, who is in his fifties, is already a long-lived in this age when the average age is only in his early thirties.Zhao Wang originally let his son be in power because of his old age and lack of energy. This time he was frightened by the sneak attack of the son, and was anxious because the soldiers went south to rob the northwest of Zhao. Zhao Wang felt that his body was getting weaker and weaker, just to let the leader An Xin, the son of soldiers who fought against the Rong people on the border, Zhao Wangcai insisted on sitting in the royal capital.After hearing the news that Zhao Xuan led the army back, King Zhao relaxed and lay down on the bed, unable to get up.

Zhao Wang said a few words to Zhao Xuan, who was visiting him, and fell into a coma.Zhao Xuan summoned the palace doctors to inquire, and several doctors carefully and euphemistically stated that Zhao Wang has reached the time when the oil is dry and the lamp is extinguished, and the implication is that Zhao Xuan should be ready.

"How long is the king's deadline?" Zhao Xuan asked the doctor holding back his sadness.

Zhao Xuan asked straightforward questions, causing several doctors to look at each other. Finally, a young doctor stepped forward and answered: "If the season is not too cold, there are still two to three months."

Zhao Xuan closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The doctor said that it was confirmed that King Zhao would not live until next spring.

The unhappy Zhao Xuan returned to the Prince's Mansion, and just after cleaning and changing into casual clothes, the Crown Princess came to greet him with a medicinal meal.

"Your Highness, you have worked hard all the way!" The princess put the medicinal food on the table and saluted Zhao Xuan.

"It's hard work for my beloved wife to preside over the ceremony in the mansion!" Zhao Xuan frowned slightly. His father fell ill, but as a daughter-in-law, he dressed up gorgeously, which made Zhao Xuan a little dissatisfied in his heart.

In fact, the Crown Princess went to greet Zhao Wang in the past two days, but she failed to see Zhao Wang with her own eyes. The Crown Princess did not know that her father-in-law had fallen ill.Hearing that Zhao Xuan was returning to the mansion, the princess dressed up carefully before coming to meet her husband.

"Your Highness, my concubine's brother Wang came to write a letter a few days ago." The princess did not notice the subtle changes in her husband's face, she sat opposite Zhao Xuan with a smile.

"Oh, what did you say in the letter?" The King of Yan is the elder brother of the Crown Princess, Zhao and Yan are married, and the most valuable dowry of King Yan and Ji's daughter are six stallions from Yandi.With these six top stallions, the quality of Zhao Guo's horses has taken a leap forward.Yan Guo's horse is strong and good at running, and it is second to none in the Great Qin Dynasty. It is the best war horse.

"Brother Wang wants to form an alliance with Qi and Lu to resist Wu."

"Resist Wu together? Does Wu want to invade and occupy them?" Zhao Xuan was surprised. He was leading the army outside and could not hear from him. He only knew that Qi Lu was in danger and wanted to form a group to resist Wu.

"Your Highness said that Wu is a powerful enemy, and he has no intention of encroaching now, but that doesn't mean he won't in the future. Didn't Wu want to destroy Tang just a few days ago?"

Zhao Xuan has always been jealous of Wu Guo's behavior, and the princess thinks that Zhao Xuan wishes Wu Guo to be attacked by groups.

Zhao Xuan was silent. The destruction of the Tang Kingdom was caused by the King Tang himself. Wu Guo defeated Tang to seek justice for Zheng Yuming. At the same time, Zhao Xuan was the one who wanted to seek justice from the Tang Kingdom. Apart from being stabbed in the hands and feet by Kuiji, Zhao Xuan almost Became the murder mastermind.Zhao Xuan was displeased by the princess's tone of injustice for Tang.

"Is the alliance going to send troops to Wu country together?" Zhao Xuan's tone was light.

"Brother Wang didn't say anything in the letter. Since everyone is fighting against Wu together, Your Highness, our country can also join. This is a great opportunity to weaken Wu country." The princess said.

Zhao Xuan was moved, yes, Wu Guo's lightning destruction of Tang brought a threat to the surrounding princes, taking advantage of this opportunity, maybe they can unite to isolate Wu Guo, weaken or eliminate their strong neighbors.

Zhao Xuan's heart was moved after hearing the words of the Crown Princess, but he thought of Wu Guo's selfless assistance, benefiting from Wu Guo's business and trade at the border checkpoints, and thinking of cooperating with Wu Guo's paper factory in the future, Zheng Yuming's hand-drawn farm tool improvement blueprints, free gift of high-quality rice seeds, Zhao Xuan hesitated to continue supplying insecticidal vinegar, because Zhao Guo benefited too much from Wu Guo.

Seeing that Zhao Xuan was thinking seriously, the Crown Princess thought that Zhao Xuan agreed with her suggestion, and felt a little complacent in her heart. She would like to see her husband's country and her mother's country standing in the same trench.

"Your Highness, Brother Wang has another request for this letter."

"Brother Wang, what request do you have?" Zhao Xuanzheng was undecided, and when he heard that his brother-in-law had a request, he put down the balance for the time being.

"The country of Yan is facing a famine this year. Brother Wang, please ask Your Highness to help the country of Yan with five thousand grains. Zhao and Yan have benefited from Zhao Guo. Brother Wang will not open his mouth easily. This time, His Highness will definitely help." The crown princess asked the king of Yan plan.

"Kang Dang!" Zhao Xuan stood up suddenly, and waved over the medicinal food on the case table, the soup of the medicinal food splashed on the back of the princess's left hand.

"Why is Your Highness angry?" The princess fell to the ground in shock.

Zhao Xuan sneered: "Brother Wang asked for five thousand shi of grain. Doesn't the country of Yan not know that Zhao Shourong invaded the south and caused huge losses to the northwest frontier counties? Even if Brother Wang doesn't know the distance, King Ru doesn't know either?"

Zhao Xuan couldn't believe that his brother-in-law didn't know the news of the Rong people's invasion of the south, but he still asked for supplies after knowing it. This kind of inconsiderate request made Zhao Xuan angry.In order to obtain the stallions of Yan State, Zhao Guo paid a very generous dowry gift. After marrying Yan State, the king of Yan hinted from time to time that Zhao State would give him more money every year. Zhao Xuan thought that for the six stallions of Yan State, Zhao It is enough for the country to pay the price, and the country of Yan can no longer be greedy.

There is also a drought in the country of Zhao this year. It is only because Zhao Xuan usually pays attention to people's livelihood and encourages the construction of water conservancy in various places, so that the people of Zhao country can harvest enough food to fill their stomachs.This time, the Northwest County suffered a disaster. If it wasn't for Wu Guo's great help, Zhao Xuan would not be able to let the people in the Northwest County survive the winter safely.However, Yan Guo knew that Zhao Guo was short of food and Northwest County suffered a severe disaster, so he asked for a large amount of food, which is really selfish to the extreme.

"Isn't the state of Wu donating a large amount of food? We can share some of it with the prince." The princess was wronged, she heard that the state of Wu's food aid included ten thousand stones.

Zhao Xuan laughed anxiously: "My beloved wife is very calculating, so she was interested in Wu's assistance. It's ridiculous that Gu just wanted to ally with the princes to weaken Wu. Zhao was in trouble, but Wu was considerate and selfless, and Yan was lonely. Marriage to the country, but only caring about oneself, not helping each other, even counting Wu's free aid."

In order to get fine-bred horses from Yan State, Zhao Xuan exchanged marriage and a lot of property.Only the son of the state of Wu knows how to help generously without asking for anything.

"Your Highness, I don't know that Northwest County has suffered so badly." Seeing Zhao Xuan's anger, the Crown Princess hastily argued.

Zhao Xuan stared at the Crown Princess coldly: "You are Zhao's wife now, married and obeyed your husband, if you only have your mother's country in your heart, don't blame Zhao Xuan for divorce!"

Zhao Xuan dropped the heavy words, flung his sleeves and left, and went to Ai Ji's place to rest.

The Crown Princess shivered, and wept loudly while stroking her burnt left hand.