Zhao Guo, in the past few days, the people in the household department have been very busy, busy raising the materials needed for the transaction.

The grain stored by the imperial court was stored in warehouses distributed in various places under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households, and as long as it was packed in bags, it could be transported away at any time.

In terms of salt, because of the implementation of the monopoly of salt and iron, the salt in Zhao State was strictly controlled by the Ministry of Commerce from processing, production to sales, and there was a certain stock. Because of the huge volume of trade, it took 90% of the salt stock to meet the demand, and the salt works on the northeast coast stepped up production to make up for the salt shortage.

As for the cloth, there is very little stock in the treasury itself, and it must be purchased in large quantities from the private sector. After the conclusion of the imperial meeting, Xiangguo sent fast horses to gallop to the counties and issued orders to local officials to purchase cloth from the people.

The elders of the Donghu tribe have very detailed requirements for the types of fabrics, including fabrics of different grades, thicknesses and colors, and also distinguish between men and women.

By the deadline set by King Zhao, according to the summary of the number of purchases reported by each county, the required cloth was finally purchased, and some of it was still on the way to the capital.

On February 15, outside the north gate of Xiangguo, there were a large number of soldiers and a large number of carriages, which were loaded with materials traded with Donghu.

This time to trade with Donghu, Zhuo Zhongkai led 6,000 cavalry, accompanied by relevant officials from the military department and the household department, and went to the border to trade with the Donghu tribe.

The materials are managed and raised by the household department, and when they go to the border for trading, the household department is also responsible for making file records on the spot; After the transaction is completed, the household department will hand over the horses to the military department, and the records must also be made.

The 6,000 cavalry who set out, the soldiers did not take their mounts with them, but marched north on foot, and when the deal was completed, each of these cavalrymen would have a mount and go south with all the horses.

The war horses will be brought back to Xiangguo directly, and the military department will be uniformly deployed to the cavalry.

As for the 2,000 breeding horses, sixty percent will be handed over to the local horse farm in Yandi, and the remaining forty percent will follow south and be handed over to the horse farm in Zhao Land.

Yandi is more suitable for raising horses than Zhaodi, and according to the plan of the military department confirmed by Zhao Xie, it is planned to add several more horse farms near Yanshan.

He Xian, who went north to negotiate, temporarily stayed at the border guards, and needed to participate in the trade, and then follow him south after the deal was completed.

Zhao Xie personally came to the outside of the city to see off the northbound team. According to Zhao Xie's order, the northbound team must not be delayed along the way, and only by ensuring the completion of the transaction can he feel at ease, and he is very unwilling to see the incident of Maoton's surprise attack on Donghu on the eve of the transaction.

Zhuo Zhongkai set off with the team, the soldiers were in front, the supplies were behind, and the team was mighty.

As soon as he returned to the palace, he received news from the defenders on the eastern border that the Qi army on the east bank of the Yellow River had suddenly increased a lot of soldiers, strictly inspecting the ships and personnel coming and going, and it seemed that they were well guarded, and the atmosphere was wrong.

During this period, the states of Zhao and Qi were bounded by the Yellow River. The estuary of the Yellow River during this period was different from that of modern times, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River were now further north, and the estuary was in the Bohai Sea.

In ancient history, the Yellow River has been diverted many times.

The story of Dayu's water control is well-known, and the "water" referred to in the story is the ancient Yellow River, and the frequent breaches in the lower reaches of the Yellow River flooded into disasters, which also made the Yellow River known as "China's troubles". During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the mouth of the Yellow River was in Jiangsu, and it was the modern Yellow River after the diversion in modern times.

Zhao Xie frowned, this situation is not right, summon Li Zuoche into the palace to discuss.

After understanding the relevant situation, Li Zuoche said: "King, this is a signal that Qi and Zhao are enemies, Tian Guang and Tian Heng cannot be enemies of our country for no reason, they must have been bewitched by others, and they should be people sent by Liu Bang." ”

Zhao Xie let out a long sigh and said, "If Liu Bang wants to seize our country, it will not be limited to force. Zhang Liang and Chen Ping are incomparably resourceful, it must be their treacherous plan, it is not so easy to completely defeat Liu Bang! ”

Li Zuoche immediately thought of the next step and said: "When the Han army comes to attack, the Qi army may send troops to attack and harass, as long as our army is well prepared on the front line of the Yellow River, the Qi army will not dare to attack easily, and about 30,000 or 40,000 troops will be pinned down because of this, and the impact on the battle situation will not be too great." What really has a big impact is the price required to seize the Qi State in the future. ”

When he said this, Zhao Xie's interest was aroused again.

As for how to seize the Qi State, Zhao Xie originally had his own ideas, which originated from the historical Han Xin's raid on the Qi State. In history, Li Shiqi persuaded Qi to side with Liu Bang, Tian Heng and Tian Guang were therefore lax in their defenses, and many of the recruited soldiers were disarmed and returned home to farm, Han Xin seized this opportunity to raid Qi and was able to control Qi in a short time.

The country of Qi has a population of three million, and it will not be easy to take the state of Qi if it is fully prepared.

As for how to seize the state of Qi, Zhao Xie's original idea was to learn from Han Xin's method of attacking Qi, pretending that the two countries were reconciled, and taking advantage of his lax precautions to send troops to raid.

Zhao Xie asked: "If Tian Heng was not bewitched by Liu Bang's faction, what is Aiqing's good strategy to seize the Qi State?" I also have a strategy for winning all of them, so why don't you and I write them separately and see the difference! ”

Immediately, the two of them each picked up a pen and wrote on a piece of paper.

Once you've written it, give it to each other for review.

Li Zuoche saw that King Zhao wrote on the note: The two countries are reconciled, and they are not prepared for a surprise attack.

And what Li Zuoche wrote on the paper was: pretend to be reconciled and confuse it, and take advantage of its unpreparedness to attack.

Is the strategy of the two the same, the monarch and the minister looked at each other and smiled.

Li Zuoche belongs to the wise general, rich in strategy, Zhao Xie asked himself, if he didn't know a lot of historical information in modern times, he couldn't think of this way.

Li Zuodao: "King, if the state of Qi is prepared, the ministers send more than 200,000 troops to attack Qi, although there is a certainty of victory, it will take a long time." There are more than 70 cities in the Qi country, and the most optimistic estimate will take more than a year. However, if Han Xin leads the attack again, and our army captures Wei and Dai again, we may be able to find a way to outwit the Qi state. ”

Zhao Xie asked anxiously: "Aiqing come quickly!" ”

Li Zuodao: "The king, the minister has not yet matured his thoughts, and Rong Chen will not be clear first." The most important thing at the moment is to prepare for a big war in an all-round way, and fight with Han Xin, and you must not be defeated! ”

Zhao Xie thought about it, as long as he could pass this hurdle first, he would at least be able to ensure a three-legged stand, and how to seize the Qi State at that time would no longer affect the overall situation.

The two of them discussed the training and weapons again.

Beginning in November last year, Li Zuoche added the training methods described by King Zhao to the training methods described by Zhao Wang in accordance with his own abilities, compiled a training outline, implemented a new military system, reorganized the training of veterans, and trained new recruits in accordance with the new methods.

With regard to military construction, Zhao Xie and Li Zuoche discussed in detail that in order to build an army with strong field combat capability and strong ability to tackle tough battles, military system, military discipline, training methods, weaponry and equipment, and grain and grass logistics are all indispensable.