In order not to let the upright and honest Zhou Zeng be targeted too much by his colleagues, and in order to warn many of the founding heroes who have begun to show signs of corruption, Xiang Kang finally accepted the kindness of Zhou Zeng, the first civil official of the Han Dynasty, and on the morning of the second day after returning to Xianyang, he issued his first heavy fine after ascending the throne under the pretext of punishing Zhou Zeng for forcibly occupying people's land - first reprimanded Zhou Zeng in front of the public generals, deprived Zhou Zeng of 2,000 households, and ordered Zhou Zeng to personally come out to apologize to the victims of Xianyang. Double down on the losses of the people.

Of course, this hand has played a certain effect, seeing that Zhou Zeng, the head of the hundred officials and Uncle Xiang Kangya, was heavily punished for violating the people, the important ministers of the Han court really restrained their eating appearance, and restrained their sons, nephews, relatives and relatives in words and deeds, at least on the bright side, they did not dare to recklessly take advantage of and oppress the people, among which Zheng Bu took the initiative to return some of the fields he had occupied in Fenshui, and Long He also made a guarantee under Xiang Kang's personal persuasion, promising not to kill slaves and servants indiscriminately, and the officialdom atmosphere has improved significantly.

At the same time, after discussing with Zhou Zeng, Li Shiqi, and Zhou Shu's civil and military ministers, Xiang Kang also officially made the decision to build a new capital, choosing the Xingle Palace left by the former Qin as the core, and building a large-scale new capital city on the south bank of Weishui, so as to strengthen the defense force and effective management of the Beijing Division, as well as to eliminate the psychological resistance of the people outside the customs to Xianyang, as for the name of the new capital, of course, Xiang Kang did not hesitate to personally name it - Chang'an!

In addition, Xiang Kang arranged a special person to preside over and carefully draw the palace of King Zhao that Qin Shi Huang imitated in Beiban, Xianyang, and rebuilt the palace of King Zhao destroyed in the war in Handan at the expense of the Han court, and gave it to Zhao Xie to live in, and also let Zhao Xie move the capital to Handan after rebuilding the palace of King Zhao.

There are many reasons why Xiang Kang attaches so much importance to the issue of King Zhao's palace, the first is of course to fulfill the promise he made to Zhao Xie, so as to temporarily stabilize Zhao Xie and other princes and kings with different surnames, and buy time for himself to gradually eradicate the princes and kings; The second is that if Zhao Xie continues to set the capital of Julu, he will continue to maintain direct contact with Zang Di, the king of Yan, and only by letting Zhao Xie move the capital to Handan, Xiang Kang can find an excuse to station the army directly under the Han Dynasty in Julu County and Hengshan County, and cut off the military contact between Zhao Xie and Zang Di as a precaution.

The third reason is equally important, Xiang Kang arranged for the person responsible for rebuilding the palace of King Zhao is none other than Shao Ping, the former Marquis of Qin Dongling that Zhou had excavated for Xiang Kang......

As long as there is money and food, the construction of the new capital and the reconstruction of the palace of King Zhao are of course easy to do, with the great progress in production technology brought by the new agricultural tools, the affairs of internal affairs are also quite easy, but the same important military aspects make Xiang Kang frown, Zhao Tuo of Lingnan took the opportunity of the melee at the end of Qin, seized Guilin County and Xiang County, and proclaimed himself the martial king of Nanyue, which has gradually shown signs of not falling, although Xiang Kang adopted Zhang Liang's suggestion and sent Chen Hui to carry the seal rune to appease Zhao Tuo to surrender, but whether it can succeed is still not sure at present. - And even if the appeasement is successful, the Han court will have to use force in the future to annex South Vietnam and complete the real cause of reunification.

Zhao Tuo, who only wants to be the emperor of the soil in Lingnan, is still the best to deal with, and the most headache for Xiang Kang is still the Xiongnu problem in the north, before taking advantage of the opportunity of the Chu and Han wars to turn the world upside down, the Xiongnu army whose national strength is on the rise has not only re-extended its claws into the important Hetao area, but also basically snatched the grassland land that Meng Yu had worked hard to gain during the Qin Dynasty, and at the same time constantly crossed the Great Wall, invaded the northern border of the Han Dynasty, and once invaded the Shanggu, Yuyang and other places in the northern Xinjiang of the Han Dynasty, and invaded Shanggu, Yuyang and other places in the Yan Kingdom many times. It caused huge losses to the northern frontier of the Han Empire, and further weakened the Han court's already weak control over the Yan State, and buried countless hidden dangers for Xiang Kang to deal with the problem of princes and kings.

During this period, the border troops of the Han army led by Li Zuoche also suffered defeats, and were repeatedly beaten by the sudden attack of the Xiongnu army, and were forced to defend the wall, although the frontier Han army strictly followed Li Zuoche's requirements, and immediately retreated to the neighboring city camp to protect itself every time the enemy attacked, the Xiongnu lacked offensive weapons and technology, and there was no way to take the strong fortifications of the Han army, and the losses of the Han army were not too large, but the losses of the Han army were still considerable. In addition, in order to allow Li Zuoche to garrison the army in the frontier for a long time and train troops to expand the army, the Han court also paid a huge material price of Qianshan and the sea of grain.

Under such circumstances, the dissatisfaction of the Han court officials with Li Zuoche was of course full of court, and many people wrote letters to persuade Xiang Kang to dismiss Li Zuoche, who had fought for a long time without success, and to elect a powerful minister to guard the frontier, but fortunately, Xiang Kang was also a strong-willed person, and resolutely did not listen to these advices that were actually based on loyalty and kindness, gritted his teeth and supported Li Zuoche, and allowed Li Zuoche to lose consecutive battles in northern Xinjiang, calmed down and did not take any big moves against the Huns, and was patient just to rest with the people and accumulate national strength.

Fortunately, Xiang Kang did not have the hard work in vain, the scorching summer of the red sun had just passed, when the autumn wind gradually blew, Xiang Kang had previously sent to Qilian Mountain to contact the envoy of the Yue country after thousands of miles, and finally returned to Xianyang, not only brought Xiang Kang the good news that the Yue country was willing to form an alliance with the Han court against the Xiongnu, but also brought the good messenger of the Yue country and the Han court, Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news, in addition to ordering Lou Jing and others to entertain the envoy of the Yue country, and sent someone to Li Zuoche to inform the news at the first time, Let Li Zuoche have a bottom in his heart.

That's not all, after handing over the documents informing the messenger of the news, Xiang Kang personally instructed the messenger who was about to contact Li Zuoche: "By the way, I will bring a message to Guangwujun for me, saying that he can act on this matter, and if he feels it is necessary, he can take the initiative to leak the news that we have formed an alliance with the Yue Clan to the Xiongnu barbarians." ”

The envoy of the Han court agreed, and on the same day, he went north along the gallop road, and successfully arrived at Li Zuoche's garrison after more than ten days, and then immediately met Li Zuoche to present the paperwork, and there was a message to convey Xiang Kang, Li Zuoche smiled and nodded after listening, and said to the messenger sent by Xiang Kang: "Hard work, Your Majesty's meaning, Your Majesty understands, please go to the post house to rest and eat first, and wait for the official to write a reply to Your Majesty, and then ask the pedestrian to bring it back and present it to Your Majesty." ”

The envoy of the Han court agreed and immediately said goodbye and left, but as soon as he left, Xiang Zhuang, the military deputy that Xiang Kang personally arranged for Li Zuoche, immediately asked: "Guangwujun, what do your majesty's words mean?" Why did you order that we could take the initiative to leak the news of the Yue Clan to the Xiongnu barbarians? ”

"Your Majesty has good intentions and wants to share some of the pressure on our side." Li Zuoche replied: "The Yueshi country is the old enemy of the Xiongnu, and the current Xiongnu Shan Yu Maodun has a deep hatred, once the Xiongnu side knows that the Yueshi country and we have formed an alliance against them, they will definitely immediately send troops to retaliate, the Xiongnu are advancing westward, of course, the pressure on our side can be much smaller." ”

"I see." Xiang Zhuang woke up and hurriedly said: "Guangwujun, then let's not waste time, take advantage of the fact that it is autumn now, quickly spread the news, let the Huns know that the Huns like to use troops in large quantities when the rivers are frozen in winter, and after receiving this news, they will definitely immediately send troops to the west to find the Yueshi country to settle accounts, and our northern Xinjiang can take the opportunity to go to the country for a while." ”

"No, you can't." Li Zuoche shook his head decisively and said: "Not only did we fail to do this, but on the contrary, we have to block the news, and the later we let the Xiongnu know that we have formed an alliance with the Yue Clan, the better." ”

"Why?" Xiang Zhuang was completely confused, and Xiang Guan on the other side asked in direct surprise: "Guangwujun, aren't you joking?" Ah Di......, oh no, Your Majesty has good intentions and wants to use the Yue Clan Kingdom to temporarily share the pressure for us, how can you know that you still don't appreciate it? ”

"Because the Yue Clan is too weak, it won't buy us much time." Li Zuoche said in a deep voice: "Forgot the news we collected in detail? The Xiongnu barbarians have reached 300,000, which is more than the total population of the Yue Clan, if the Xiongnu attack the Yue Clan in a big westward campaign, it will not take three months to destroy the Yue Clan directly! At that time, the Xiongnu will be completely carefree, and they will attack our northern frontier again, and our troubles will only be more, and the pressure will only be greater! ”

"So we must not take the initiative to urge the Xiongnu to march into Qilian Mountain and destroy the Yueshi Kingdom prematurely." Li Zuoche continued to explain: "Only by temporarily stabilizing the Xiongnu and letting them not rush to send troops to destroy the Yueshi State can the Yueshi State have the ability to continue to threaten the Xiongnu barbarian Western Front and share more pressure for us." When we have gathered enough strength to launch a full-scale counterattack against the Xiongnu, the Yueshi Kingdom will have a chance to help us a lot on the Western Front. ”

After listening to this explanation, Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan understood Li Zuoche's true intentions, but after nodding, Xiang Zhuang asked worriedly: "Guangwujun, for the sake of the long term, we can try to block this news as much as possible, but what if the barbarians of the Yue Clan Kingdom don't appreciate it?" If they pretended to agree to form an alliance, but in fact sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, deliberately letting us and the Xiongnu fight until both sides were defeated and remained unmoved, then we would not have suffered a big loss? ”

"General Xiang, have you ever seen a hungry wolf on the grassland that doesn't eat meat?" Li Zuoche asked with a smile, and then said: "We kindly don't want to urge the Xiongnu to attack the Yueshi, the barbarians of the Yueshi country may choose to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, but as long as the opportunity appears, the jackals of the Yueshi country will definitely not show mercy to the Xiongnu barbarians, and we will stab the Xiongnu in the back without us forcing them!" ”

"The land of the Xiongnu is too vast, and there are too many tribes on the steppe." Li Zuoche continued: "Our Han can defeat the Xiongnu, but it is difficult to completely occupy the entire grassland and annex all the Xiongnu territory, for this gang of jackals on the grassland, our best way is to let them fight dog-eat-dog day after day, and they will never be able to twist into a whole and be our enemy, so we must try our best to make the grassland barbarians fall into division, so that their various tribes will always fight between each other." Eat some immediate losses and pick up some small advantages for the Yueshi barbarians, and those grassland tribes who are forced to submit to the Xiongnu barbarians will follow suit, and we will be able to do much easier things on the grassland in the future. ”

Seeing that Li Zuoche had already made up his mind, and was told by Xiang Kang to obey Li Zuoche's decision, Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan, the two Xiang family generals, did not say anything more, but just nodded yes together, and Li Zuoche ordered to block the news of the alliance between the Han Dynasty and the Yue Clan, and at the same time personally wrote to Xiang Kang, explaining his thoughts and plans to Xiang Kang, and asking Xiang Kang to support the decision he made.

Before the matter was over, after personally going out of the city to see off the envoy sent by Xiang Kang, Li Zuoche had just returned to his county guard in Mayi City, and his full-time official in charge of intelligence greeted him and reported to Li Zuoche: "Yu Junzun, we sent a detailed work to the grassland to listen to the news to send an urgent report, saying that the Xiongnu Zuoxian King is gathering troops in the area of Yundu Mountain, as if he is going to make a big move. ”

"Yundu Mountain? How is it there? Li Zuoche immediately remembered that Yundu Mountain was not very far from Guyan Mountain, where Mao Dunshan Yu Wang Ting was located, and hurriedly asked, "Is the news reliable?" Have we heard what the Xiongnu will do next? ”

"Hui Junzun, no." The officer in charge of intelligence shook his head and said, "But the news is absolutely reliable, and it was brought back by our caravan." ”

"The Yue Clan is going to be unlucky." Li Zuoche muttered, and then just thought about it a little, Li Zuoche immediately ordered: "Quick, immediately go and invite the two generals, Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan, and say that I have important matters to discuss with them." ”

According to Li Zuoche's instructions, it didn't take much time for Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan to hurriedly come to Li Zuoche's face, Li Zuoche was not polite, as soon as they met, they told them the news that the Xiongnu Zuoxian King had assembled troops in the area of Yundu Mountain, and Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan immediately misunderstood when they heard it, and both said: "The Xiongnu barbarians gathered their troops, do they want to send the main force south in this winter?" ”

"No, the main force of the Huns will not go south." Li Zuoche shook his head and said: "In the nomadic area divided by the Xiongnu barbarians, King Zuoxian is in charge of the territory east of Jiuyuan, if the main force of the Xiongnu is ready to move south, his army should be assembled near the Great Wall east of Jiuyuan, waiting for the direct army of the Xiongnu Shan Yu and the army of the Right Xian King to move east to meet him, but he is reluctant to seek the near and far, and ran to the Yundu Mountain near the Xiongnu Shan Yu Wang Court to gather troops, which is enough to show that the main force of the Xiongnu has no plans to go south this winter. ”

"Then what are the Huns going to do?" As soon as Xiang Zhuang finished asking this sentence, he immediately came to his senses, and hurriedly said: "Could it be that the Xiongnu plan to march westward and destroy the Yue Clan?" ”

"That's the only way." Li Zuoche said: "The Xiongnu now have only two enemies, one is us, and the other is the Yueshi, since the army of the Xiongnu Zuoxian King is assembled in Yundu Mountain, it does not seem to be preparing to go south, then they must be planning to march into the Yueshi in a big way this winter, and completely eradicate their hidden dangers on the Western Front." ”

"What then?" Xiang Guan asked worriedly: "It's so far away, let's not say that we sent troops to help the Yue Clan, we just want to send a letter to the Yue Clan, telling them to prepare in advance, and it's too late in terms of time and distance?" ”

"The only way to use Sun Bin's old method is to encircle Wei to save Zhao." Li Zuoche replied with a wry smile: "Take the initiative to march into the grassland, beat the remaining tribes of the Xiongnu, beat out the anger of the barbarians in Maodun, force the main force of the Xiongnu to change their plans, and do their best to prevent the Xiongnu from destroying the Yueshi country now." ”

"Take the initiative to march into the grassland?" Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan opened their mouths together, and then Xiang Zhuang said in great surprise: "Guangwujun, you're not joking, are you?" Isn't your strategy to follow your eldest father, Wu Anjun, to deliberately show weakness, and wait for the Huns to be negligent before counterattacking? Why did you ask us to take the initiative to march into the grassland today? ”

"Soldiers are impermanent, water is impermanent, my father's strategy can be learned, but it can't be rigidly copied." Li Zuoche sneered and said: "Besides, the Huns are not fools, they suffered a big loss at the hands of my eldest father, how can they be so easy to be fooled for the second time?" Preparing to kill the Yueshi first, completely eliminate the hidden dangers on the Western Front, and then free up their hands to deal with the Central Plains army with all their might, is a proof that the Xiongnu side has learned a lesson. ”

"Then we surround Wei to save Zhao, are we sure that we can succeed?" Xiang Zhuang asked again: "What if the Xiongnu are not fooled, desperately suffer some losses on the southern front, and insist on fighting the Yueshi first?" ”

"Of course we are not ten percent sure, but we can't watch the Yue Clan being wiped out by the Huns now, so we can only try with all our might. And even if we can't succeed in doing so, we can take this opportunity to practice the frontier army through actual combat, so that our frontier army can accumulate some experience in fighting on the grassland, which will be beneficial to our next operation. ”

Li Zuoche replied calmly, and asked Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan with a smile, "What?" Two generals Xiang, don't you often say that as long as I let you enter the grassland, you will keep it and not disappoint our Han court? Why is it that now that I have decided to march into the grassland, you don't dare to immediately clench your fists and take your life? ”

Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan glanced at each other quickly, and then immediately saluted Li Zuoche with their fists, and said in unison: "Please Guangwujun give instructions on how to enter the army, and the last general will swear to serve his life, and never disappoint His Majesty and Guangwujun's expectations for the last general!" ”

The reason why Xiang Kang arranged Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan, two Xiang family fierce generals, to the northern frontier to assist Li Zuoche in leading the army to resist the Xiongnu is for two reasons, the first is of course somewhat defensive against Li Zuoche, and the second is that Xiang Kang is unwilling to let the Xiang brothers get involved in the bad thing of cutting off the king with a different surname - the Xiang brothers fought to the death with the generals of the Han army until Xiang Yu killed himself, if Xiang Kang dares to use the Xiang brothers to deal with the heroes, he will immediately be able to chill the hearts of all the heroes of the Han army!

But fortunately, Xiang Kang arranged this way, and he was willing to come to the frontier to resist the Huns and win back face for the Xiang brothers.