The next morning, the main hall of Longtai.

Because Lou Chang was executed, and then Pang Xuan and Zheng Zhu entered the core successively, there are now a total of seven ministers of Zhao State.

Zhao Dan looked around at everyone, and then stopped at Pang Xuan's body.

Pang Xuan, although he is also from Buyi, but Zhao Dan supported him to restrict Lian Po, and Pang Xuan naturally knew this, so Pang Xuan would not get very close to Lian Po.

Zhao Dan thought to himself: "Listening to Mi Xian's secret report, Pang Xuan seems to have been a little close to Zhao Sheng recently, and it seems that he will soon become a member of Zhao Sheng's faction." ”

In this way, the Gong clan faction may reinstate the three again.

However, Lian Po and Yu Xin's actions are not small.

I heard that Yu Xin and Yushi Li Bo have been moving around very often recently, and because of the problems of some officials, Li Bo and Si Kou Zhao Bao seem to be a little unhappy, so Li Bo is very likely to join Yu Xin Lianpo's side.

To be honest, Zhao Dan doesn't like this situation very much.

You courtiers are good courtiers, and you just think that it's good to be loyal to the widow, why are you doing gangs all day long?

But Zhao Dan also knows very well in his heart that it is actually a very normal thing to form an alliance for political interests, and any dynasty has it.

In the court of many dynasties, there are usually two or more factions, these factions usually include civil servants, military generals, nobles, eunuchs, relatives, etc., basically you sing and I appear.

That is, this era is more special, because at the end of the Warring States Period, there was a distinction between civil and military generals, and before that, both civil and military were required, so the sharp confrontation between civil and military generals like the later generations does not exist now.

However, other factions have also begun to appear, such as Mixian is a eunuch, although he is not one of the seven ministers, but his influence is actually not bad compared to any of the seven ministers.

Another example is Zheng Zhu, the only one of the seven ministers who has not yet stood in line with the Zhao Kingdom, Zheng Zhu is a descendant of the Zheng royal family, and after Zheng Guo was destroyed by Korea, his ancestors went into exile in Zhao and intermarried with the Zhao royal family many times.

Now there is a Mrs. Zheng in Zhao Dan's palace who is the sister of Zheng Zhu, so Zheng Zhu is actually a relative of Zhao Guo.

This Zhao State politics really has everything.

Zhao Dan sighed secretly in his heart, it's just that, if the water is clear, there will be no fish.

Zhao Dan's face turned pale and began to get to the point.

"Zhuqing must already know about the arrival of the Qin State mission, so the widow summoned Zhuqing today just to ask, how should I reply to the people of Qin now?"

Everyone is a smart person, so it was immediately clear that the king was going to determine the next step.

Some people may have to ask, why don't we wait until this time to discuss the next national policy, can't we make a long-term five-year and ten-year plan?

This is actually a very interesting topic.

If you look at it from the perspective of later generations, you will feel that many times the monarchs of the Warring States period did not seem to have a long-term goal, and often made some short-sighted actions in the eyes of later generations.

Many articles hold such a viewpoint, and the more typical and famous ones are "The Theory of the Six Kingdoms", "The Theory of the Qin Dynasty" and so on.

But are these Warring States monarchs really so stupid?

First of all, it must be noted that before the Warring States Period, there had never been a powerful country in the entire land of China that could be called a unified dynasty.

In other words, it may be that even the ultimate victor, Qin Guo himself, did not know what the Great Unification was like before the victory.

So in history, it is not surprising that the six countries vied with each other to bribe the Qin State.

When the State of Qi was strong, wouldn't the State of Qin also have to cede the land so that the army of the State of Qi could withdraw from Hangu Pass?

When the state of Chu was strong, it also demanded from Han and Wei.

The state of Zhao is now strong, and the states of Wei and Qin have also ceded large territories.

Why? Because the vassal states all think that if you are the overlord, you will be the overlord, anyway, you will be beautiful for a few decades at most, and then everyone will besiege you and you will be finished.

Wasn't this how the historical overlords of Qi and Chu fell? Didn't Qin and Zhao rise like this?

Under such a mentality, it is simply impossible to expect the six countries in history to work together to resist the strong Qin.

Anyway, his Qin State will definitely decline, and it will not always be strong, as long as he waits for an opportunity, an opportunity similar to the Five Kingdoms War.

This is what the monarchs of the Six Kingdoms in history thought.

Zhao Dan can also be sure that this is also the idea of the other six countries except Zhao now.

This is called "epochal limitations".

These monarchs living in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period could not imagine what a unified dynasty would look like, just as an earthling in 1900 would not have imagined that a hundred years later, people would be able to talk "face-to-face" at both ends of the earth, tens of thousands of kilometers apart, just by virtue of a palm-sized thing called a mobile phone.

Or to put it this way, don't look at the current Seven Heroes of the Warring States One by one, but who knows if one day their country will be killed in a direct battle?

In the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were hundreds or thousands of vassal states, and now in 257 BC, there are only seven left, absolutely one in a hundred.

This tragic reality is enough to make every king of the Seven Kingdoms have a sense of crisis in their hearts, a sense of precariousness.

Under such circumstances, these monarchs must face up to the present, and they must try to obtain enough capital for their country to survive in every war.

In such a situation, it is simply unrealistic to want to take a long-term view.

If you want to survive, you must first be utilitarian.

The word "utilitarian" has always been synonymous with "short-sighted", and "long-term" is not the same way.

So among the many vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty, are there any countries that are not utilitarian?

Yes.

The problem is that those countries that are not utilitarian have long been drowned in the torrent of history for hundreds of years.

And even if you want to take a long-term view, it's actually quite difficult.

Seven nations, seven kings, hundreds of ministers, thousands of officials, millions of people.

With so many factors added together, who could have imagined what would happen in the future?

There are too many variables.

For example, Zhao Dan's plan before the Battle of Hedong County was to rely on the power of the Three Jin Alliance, and fight the Qin State until its destruction, and then plot against other countries.

This is not actually a long-term plan, but it is such a plan that is not long-term, and it immediately produced variables after the Battle of Hedong.

Wei Wuji, who was supposed to be pro-Zhao faction, led Wei to betray Zhao in a few minutes and stood with Qin, and then Zhao was forced to attack Qin first, and then there was the next battle to defend Handan.

Who would have thought before the war?

After all, every monarch faces so many choices before every great war, and in the most extreme cases, a lobbyist may be able to decide whether a great war will start, or which side the country will be on in the midst of it.

How can this be guessed? It's too hard to guess.

So Zhao Dan got an experience in this matter, what is the long-term vision, it is all, or it is reliable to take one step at a time.

Anyway, as long as they keep winning battles, then one day Zhao will be so strong that all the six countries together will not be opponents.

After truly unifying the world, let's slowly consider those century-old plans!